Julia TCW, PhD
Assistant Professor, Pharmacology, Physiology & Biophysics
Biography
Dr. Julia TCW received Ph.D. and A.M. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Harvard University with research studies in induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) reprogramming in the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology. She then perused her postdoctoral research in the Department of Neuroscience, Ronald M. Loeb Center for Alzheimer’s Disease, Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York with a research focus of the development of iPSC models and study Alzheimer’s disease (AD) genetics. She achieved Druckenmiller Fellowship award from New York Stem Cell Foundation and K, U and R awards from NIH-NIA.
Our research laboratory is aiming at human induced pluripotent stem cell therapeutics. There are two main goals; 1) Deciphering functional mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) genetics using in vitro iPSCs and in vivo iPSC/mouse Chimera models and 2) Developing in vitro model systems of human brain for drug screen.
1. Much of our research focuses on the effects of AD genetic risks, especially Apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4), the most significant risk factor for late-onset AD on human brain cell types. Our lab uses the forward genetic, unbiased multi-Omics computational (bioinformatics) approach to uncover pathways and network defects of AD genetic risks and demonstrate molecular mechanisms of the risk factors in CNS cell types derived from CRISPR/Cas9 genome-edited isogenic and population iPSCs. We develop novel computational pipelines to identify molecular and network drivers and integrate genetics and transcriptomics/proteomics for a functional genomic study. In vitro and in vivo work have been focused on efferocytosis, lipid metabolism, matrisome and inflammation in pure human microglia, astrocytes and organoids (multiple brain cell types as a whole) associated with AD genetic risks. Further, our lab is also collaborating with the industry to find a drug target for AD therapeutics.
2. We have developed multiple novel CNS cell type protocols including astrocytes, microglia, pericytes, neural progenitors and glutamatergic neurons and continuously put our effort to advance the 2D models to 3D human brain model to establish efficient platforms for drug screen.
Other Positions
- Director of the Laboratory of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapeutics, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Education
- Harvard University, PhD
- Harvard University, AM
- Catholic University of Korea, BS
Publications
- Published on 3/22/2024
Saha O, Melo de Farias AR, Pelletier A, Siedlecki-Wullich D, Landeira BS, Gadaut J, Carrier A, Vreulx AC, Guyot K, Shen Y, Bonnefond A, Amouyel P, Tcw J, Kilinc D, Queiroz CM, Delahaye F, Lambert JC, Costa MR. The Alzheimer's disease risk gene BIN1 regulates activity-dependent gene expression in human-induced glutamatergic neurons. Mol Psychiatry. 2024 Mar 22. PMID: 38514804.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 1/5/2024
Vance JM, Farrer LA, Huang Y, Cruchaga C, Hyman BT, Pericak-Vance MA, Goate AM, Greicius MD, Griswold AJ, Haines JL, Tcw J, Schellenberg GD, Tsai LH, Herz J, Holtzman DM. Report of the APOE4 National Institute on Aging/Alzheimer Disease Sequencing Project Consortium Working Group: Reducing APOE4 in Carriers is a Therapeutic Goal for Alzheimer's Disease. Ann Neurol. 2024 Jan 05. PMID: 38180638.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 3/28/2023
Kloske CM, Barnum CJ, Batista AF, Bradshaw EM, Brickman AM, Bu G, Dennison J, Gearon MD, Goate AM, Haass C, Heneka MT, Hu WT, Huggins LKL, Jones NS, Koldamova R, Lemere CA, Liddelow SA, Marcora E, Marsh SE, Nielsen HM, Petersen KK, Petersen M, Piña-Escudero SD, Qiu WQ, Quiroz YT, Reiman E, Sexton C, Tansey MG, Tcw J, Teunissen CE, Tijms BM, van der Kant R, Wallings R, Weninger SC, Wharton W, Wilcock DM, Wishard TJ, Worley SL, Zetterberg H, Carrillo MC. APOE and immunity: Research highlights. Alzheimers Dement. 2023 Jun; 19(6):2677-2696. PMID: 36975090.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 3/28/2023
Kloske CM, Barnum CJ, Batista AF, Bradshaw EM, Brickman AM, Bu G, Dennison J, Gearon MD, Goate AM, Haass C, Heneka MT, Hu WT, Huggins LKL, Jones NS, Koldamova R, Lemere CA, Liddelow SA, Marcora E, Marsh SE, Nielsen HM, Petersen KK, Petersen M, Piña-Escudero SD, Qiu WQ, Quiroz YT, Reiman E, Sexton C, Tansey MG, Tcw J, Teunissen CE, Tijms BM, van der Kant R, Wallings R, Weninger SC, Wharton W, Wilcock DM, Wishard TJ, Worley SL, Zetterberg H, Carrillo MC. APOE and immunity: Research highlights. Alzheimers Dement. 2023 Mar 28. PMID: 36975090.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 3/25/2023
Tcw J, Arranz AM. hiPSC-based models to decipher the contribution of human astrocytes to Alzheimer's disease and potential therapeutics. Mol Neurodegener. 2023 Mar 25; 18(1):19. PMID: 36966344.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 3/25/2023
Tcw J, Arranz AM. hiPSC-based models to decipher the contribution of human astrocytes to Alzheimer's disease and potential therapeutics. Mol Neurodegener. 2023 Mar 25; 18(1):19. PMID: 36966344.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 10/27/2022
Leng K, Rose IVL, Kim H, Xia W, Romero-Fernandez W, Rooney B, Koontz M, Li E, Ao Y, Wang S, Krawczyk M, Tcw J, Goate A, Zhang Y, Ullian EM, Sofroniew MV, Fancy SPJ, Schrag MS, Lippmann ES, Kampmann M. CRISPRi screens in human iPSC-derived astrocytes elucidate regulators of distinct inflammatory reactive states. Nat Neurosci. 2022 Nov; 25(11):1528-1542. PMID: 36303069.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 6/23/2022
Tcw J, Qian L, Pipalia NH, Chao MJ, Liang SA, Shi Y, Jain BR, Bertelsen SE, Kapoor M, Marcora E, Sikora E, Andrews EJ, Martini AC, Karch CM, Head E, Holtzman DM, Zhang B, Wang M, Maxfield FR, Poon WW, Goate AM. Cholesterol and matrisome pathways dysregulated in astrocytes and microglia. Cell. 2022 Jun 23; 185(13):2213-2233.e25. PMID: 35750033.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/25/2021
Preman P, Tcw J, Calafate S, Snellinx A, Alfonso-Triguero M, Corthout N, Munck S, Thal DR, Goate AM, De Strooper B, Arranz AM. Human iPSC-derived astrocytes transplanted into the mouse brain undergo morphological changes in response to amyloid-ß plaques. Mol Neurodegener. 2021 09 25; 16(1):68. PMID: 34563212.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/1/2021
Cao J, Huang M, Guo L, Zhu L, Hou J, Zhang L, Pero A, Ng S, Gaamouch FE, Elder G, Sano M, Goate A, Tcw J, Haroutunian V, Zhang B, Cai D. MicroRNA-195 rescues AD-associated lysosomal defects. Mol Psychiatry. 2021 Sep; 26(9):4563. PMID: 34773105.
Read at: PubMed
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