Research
Background: I obtained my Master's in Biology from the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands and my PhD in Cell Biology from Leiden University in The Netherlands. The subjects I studied focused on Ultra-structural Analysis, Biochemistry and Cell Biology. In 1990, I came to the United States and spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Medicine at Columbia University under the supervision of Dr. Ira Goldberg. In 1992 I moved to the Department of Pediatric Infectious Disease at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles for additional fellowship training in the laboratory of Dr. Kwang Kim. In 2001, I came to Johns Hopkins as faculty, initially to the Division of Infectious Disease in the Department of Pediatrics, and subsequently joined the Department of Neurology. Currently my lab in in the Malaria Research Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
Research Interest: My research focuses on the responses of the blood brain barrier (BBB) to stress, including pathogens such as Plasmodium infected erythrocytes (malaria) or alcohol exposure. My main interest is to characterize the activated and dysfunctional BBB and how signals originating from an activated and/or dysfunctional BBB lead to neurological dysfunction and potential learning disabilities, such as ADHD.
In vitro model of the human BBB: To study the role of the BBB, I developed and characterized an in vitro endothelial cell model of the human blood brain barrier and applied this to cerebral malaria research. This has the major advantage of permitting measurement of interactions with the human-specific parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, making it highly relevant to human cerebral malaria (CM). Until I developed this in vitro model for CM, little was known about the role of the blood brain barrier in conferring neurological manifestations of cerebral malaria, including seizures and coma. Other laboratories are now following my lead by pursuing the role of endothelium in cerebral malaria, as well as other vascular disorders such as sickle cell disease.
Meetings and conferences: As evidenced by the invitations I received to present her work at other universities and meetings such as the Gordon Research Conference and the NIH, I am well recognized for my work in this field. My work also explores novel adjunctive strategies to treat brain injury from cerebral malaria in which the organism resides within the blood vessels. Hence this approach also has important implications for treatment of brain injury following stroke. I have obtained research grant support through several peer reviewed granting mechanisms including the National Institutes of Health.
Collaborations: I like to collaborate with several investigators throughout the Johns Hopkins medical campus and at the Malaria Research Institute, at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, including Dr. David Sullivan and Marcello Jacobs Loreena. In addition, I collaborate internationally with distinguished investigators from the UK, Thailand and Africa. Moreover, I hosted collaborators from the UK, the Netherlands, and Thailand in my laboratory.
Teaching: In addition to research I also contribute to teaching, including lectured on the blood brain barrier for the Neurotherapeutics and International HIV courses. I am the director of the Principles in Neuroimmunology course and mentored several postdoctoral fellows, and undergraduate students. In addition, I hosted a high school student in my lab as part of the Johns Hopkins Neurology Internship for Under served Minority Youth”. I taught several biology and anatomy & physiology courses at the Community College of Baltimore County, Essex and at the University of Baltimore.
Research Interest: My research focuses on the responses of the blood brain barrier (BBB) to stress, including pathogens such as Plasmodium infected erythrocytes (malaria) or alcohol exposure. My main interest is to characterize the activated and dysfunctional BBB and how signals originating from an activated and/or dysfunctional BBB lead to neurological dysfunction and potential learning disabilities, such as ADHD.
In vitro model of the human BBB: To study the role of the BBB, I developed and characterized an in vitro endothelial cell model of the human blood brain barrier and applied this to cerebral malaria research. This has the major advantage of permitting measurement of interactions with the human-specific parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, making it highly relevant to human cerebral malaria (CM). Until I developed this in vitro model for CM, little was known about the role of the blood brain barrier in conferring neurological manifestations of cerebral malaria, including seizures and coma. Other laboratories are now following my lead by pursuing the role of endothelium in cerebral malaria, as well as other vascular disorders such as sickle cell disease.
Meetings and conferences: As evidenced by the invitations I received to present her work at other universities and meetings such as the Gordon Research Conference and the NIH, I am well recognized for my work in this field. My work also explores novel adjunctive strategies to treat brain injury from cerebral malaria in which the organism resides within the blood vessels. Hence this approach also has important implications for treatment of brain injury following stroke. I have obtained research grant support through several peer reviewed granting mechanisms including the National Institutes of Health.
Collaborations: I like to collaborate with several investigators throughout the Johns Hopkins medical campus and at the Malaria Research Institute, at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, including Dr. David Sullivan and Marcello Jacobs Loreena. In addition, I collaborate internationally with distinguished investigators from the UK, Thailand and Africa. Moreover, I hosted collaborators from the UK, the Netherlands, and Thailand in my laboratory.
Teaching: In addition to research I also contribute to teaching, including lectured on the blood brain barrier for the Neurotherapeutics and International HIV courses. I am the director of the Principles in Neuroimmunology course and mentored several postdoctoral fellows, and undergraduate students. In addition, I hosted a high school student in my lab as part of the Johns Hopkins Neurology Internship for Under served Minority Youth”. I taught several biology and anatomy & physiology courses at the Community College of Baltimore County, Essex and at the University of Baltimore.