Nationwide Children's Hospital
700 Children's Drive
Columbus, OH 43205-2664
614-355-2824
Research Interests
- Biology of connective tissue growth factor
Areas of Interest
Fibrosis of the liver is a common feature of alcoholic liver disease, non-alcoholic liver disease, viral hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and cancer. We are interested in how extracellular vesicles (EVs) control this process and how various populations of EVs can be leveraged for theory. In vitro systems including single cell types and multicellular liver organoids are used to study the involvement of EVs in communication between liver parenchymal cells (e.g. hepatocytes) and non-parenchymal cells (e.g. hepatic stellate cells, macrophages, endothelial cells), with the goal of identifying molecules in EVs that can drive or suppress fibrogenic pathways, or that are important for EV release or that mediate binding between EVs and their target cells. Dr Brigstock’s lab is also using hepatic fibrosis models in vivo to determine the pro-fibrotic or anti-fibrotic actions of specific sub-populations of EVs. The elucidation of fibrogenic mechanisms at the molecular level will likely result in the identification of many rational therapeutic targets, and an improved understanding of EV in fibrosis will likely result in additional therapeutic advances.
Education
BS: Brunel University, West London, United Kingdom, 1984
PhD: Cambridge University, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 1988
Specialty Training: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA