Neal S. Fedarko, PhD
Highlights
Languages
- English
Gender
MaleJohns Hopkins Affiliations:
- Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Faculty
About Neal S. Fedarko
Professional Titles
- Director, Clinical Research Core Laboratory, Institute for Clinical & Translational Research
- Co-Director, Fellowship Training Program in Gerontology and Geriatrics
- Co-Director, Biology of Healthy Aging Program, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Primary Academic Title
Professor of Medicine
Background
Dr. Fedarko holds a bachelor's degree from Oberlin College and a PhD from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health before joining the Johns Hopkins faculty in 1992.
Centers and Institutes
Contact for Research Inquiries
5501 Hopkins Bayview Circle
Room 1A-12 JHAAC
Baltimore, MD 21224
Phone: (410) 550-2632
Research Interests
The overall focus has been on extracellular signal transduction and homeostasis, usually in the context of aging and/or cancer.
Lab Website
Pilot and Exploratory Studies Core - Lab Website
- The Pilot and Exploratory Studies Core supports pilot and exploratory studies related to developing effective prevention of and therapies for frailty in older adults. Our objective is to facilitate independence in older adults. We provide funding; access to biostatistical, biological and clinical research core resources; and mentoring and oversight to completion of pilot and exploratory studies.
Research Summary
Research has involved both basic and clinical studies focused on the biochemical and biological actions of a gene family we first described in 2001 (the SIBLING or Small Integrin Binding LIgand N-linked Glycoprotein family). The research has shown that SIBLINGs are secreted intrinsically disordered proteins that bind multiple partners and modulate their partner’s normal biological activity. SIBLINGs are induced in different cancers where their actions facilitate tumor cell enhanced invasiveness and evasion of immune surveillance. The diagnostic utility of SIBLINGs has been studied through developing competitive and sandwich based ELISAs for their quantitative measurement.
Aging-specific research has involved developing biomarkers for sentinel homeostatic pathways such as inflammation (neopterin), senescence (chitotriosidase) and apoptosis (sFas, cytochrome C) to assess phenotypic consequences of altered extracellular signaling. The impact of aging and autoimmunity on signal transduction has been investigated by studying agonistic autoantibodies against the angiotensin II type 1 receptor. These autoantibodies activate their target receptor promoting chronic inflammation and are associated with at-risk status in older adults. Current studies are focused on whether the autoantibodies are predictive of time to diagnosis and time to death in cancer and other diseases associated with a high chronic inflammatory burden.
Additional Training
National Institutes of Health, Postdoctoral Fellowship; National Institutes of Health, Postdoctoral Fellowship