Julia TCW, PhD

Assistant Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

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.

Publications

  • Published 4/28/2025

    Rust R, Sagare AP, Kisler K, Kim Y, Zhang M, Griffin C, Wang Y, Clementel V, Torres-Sepulveda C, Tcw J, Zlokovic BV, Coba MP. Molecular signature and functional properties of human pluripotent stem cell-derived brain pericytes. bioRxiv. 2025 Apr 28. PMID: 40291694.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 2/4/2025

    Wang S, Li B, Li J, Cai Z, Hugo C, Sun Y, Qian L, Tcw J, Chui HC, Dikeman D, Asante I, Louie SG, Bennett DA, Arvanitakis Z, Remaley AT, Kerman BE, Yassine HN. Cellular senescence induced by cholesterol accumulation is mediated by lysosomal ABCA1 in APOE4 and AD. Mol Neurodegener. 2025 Feb 04; 20(1):15. PMID: 39901180.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 1/29/2025

    Cruz-Sese J, Mirón-Alcala M, Alfonso-Triguero M, Olalde J, Ruiz L, Galbis-Gramage N, Cortes L, Escobar L, Preman P, Snellinx A, Saito T, Saido TC, Saiz-Aúz L, Rábano-Gutiérrez A, Tcw J, Goate A, Strooper B, Alberdi E, Arranz AM. Divergent Effects of APOE3 and APOE4 Human Astrocytes on Key Alzheimer's Disease Hallmarks in Chimeric Mice. bioRxiv. 2025 Jan 29. PMID: 39975251.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 7/19/2024

    Kloske CM, Belloy ME, Blue EE, Bowman GR, Carrillo MC, Chen X, Chiba-Falek O, Davis AA, Paolo GD, Garretti F, Gate D, Golden LR, Heinecke JW, Herz J, Huang Y, Iadecola C, Johnson LA, Kanekiyo T, Karch CM, Khvorova A, Koppes-den Hertog SJ, Lamb BT, Lawler PE, Guen YL, Litvinchuk A, Liu CC, Mahinrad S, Marcora E, Marino C, Michaelson DM, Miller JJ, Morganti JM, Narayan PS, Naslavsky MS, Oosthoek M, Ramachandran KV, Ramakrishnan A, Raulin AC, Robert A, Saleh RNM, Sexton C, Shah N, Shue F, Sible IJ, Soranno A, Strickland MR, Tcw J, Thierry M, Tsai LH, Tuckey RA, Ulrich JD, van der Kant R, Wang N, Wellington CL, Weninger SC, Yassine HN, Zhao N, Bu G, Goate AM, Holtzman DM. Advancements in APOE and dementia research: Highlights from the 2023 AAIC Advancements: APOE conference. Alzheimers Dement. 2024 Sep; 20(9):6590-6605. PMID: 39031528.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 6/21/2024

    Sahelijo N, Rajagopalan P, Qian L, Rahman R, Priyadarshi D, Goldstein D, Thomopoulos SI, Bennett DA, Farrer LA, Stein TD, Shen L, Huang H, Nho K, Andrew SJ, Davatzikos C, Thompson PM, Tcw J, Jun GR. Brain Cell-based Genetic Subtyping and Drug Repositioning for Alzheimer Disease. medRxiv. 2024 Jun 21. PMID: 38947056.

    Read at: PubMed

View All 43 Publications:   View Full Profile in BUMC

Other Positions

  • Director of the Laboratory of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapeutics
    Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Websites

Education

  • Harvard University, PhD
  • Harvard University, AM
  • Catholic University of Korea, BS

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