Research in the Jeremy Greene Lab focuses on the history of disease and the ways that medical technologies affect our understanding of what it means to be sick, healthy, normal or abnormal. Particular areas of interest include 20th century clinical medicine, pharmaceuticals, medical technology, medical anthropology and global health.

The Jeremy Nathans Laboratory is focused on neural and vascular development, and the role of Frizzled receptors in mammalian development. We use gene manipulation in the mouse, cell culture models, and biochemical reconstitution to investigate the relevant molecular events underlying these processes, and to genetically mark and manipulate cells and tissues. Current experiments are aimed at defining additional Frizzled-regulated processes and elucidating the molecular mechanisms and cell biologic results of Frizzled signaling within these various contexts. Complementing these areas of biologic interest, we have ongoing technology development projects related to genetically manipulating and visualizing defined cell populations in the mouse, and quantitative analysis of mouse visual system function.

Research in the Jeremy Sugarman Lab focuses on biomedical ethics—particularly, the application of empirical methods and evidence-based standards to the evaluation and analysis of bioethical issues. Our contributions to medical ethics and health policy include work on the ethics of informed consent, umbilical cord blood banking, stem cell research, international HIV prevention research, global health and research oversight.

The Johns Hopkins NIMH Center is comprised of an interdisciplinary research team who has pooled their talents to study the nature of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). Their aim is to translate discoveries of the pathophysiological mechanisms into novel therapeutics for HAND.Our objectives are to integrate aspects of ongoing research in HAND and SIV encephalitis; to develop high-throughput and screening assays for identifying novel therapeutic compounds; to use proteomics and lipidomics approaches to indentifying surrogate markers of disease activity; to disseminate information and education about HAND through existing and new educational systems, including the JHU AIDS Education Training Center and the JHU Center for Global Clinical Education and to facilitate the entry of new investigators into neuro-AIDS research, and to catalyze new areas of research, particularly where relevant for drug discovery or the development of validated surrogate markers.

Dr. Zhou's research focuses on developing new in vivo MRI and MRS methodologies to study brain function and disease. His most recent work includes absolute quantification of cerebral blood flow, quantification of functional MRI, high-resolution diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), magnetization transfer mechanism, development of chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) technology, brain pH MR imaging, and tissue protein MR imaging. Notably, Dr. Zhou and his colleagues invented the amide proton transfer (APT) approach for brain pH imaging and tumor protein imaging. His initial paper on brain pH imaging was published in Nature Medicine in 2003 and his most recent paper on tumor treatment effects was published in Nature Medicine in 2011. A major part of his current research is the pre-clinical and clinical imaging of brain tumors, strokes, and other neurologic disorders using the APT and other novel MRI techniques. The overall goal is to achieve the MRI contrast at the protein and peptide level without injection of exogenous agents and improve the diagnostic capability of MRI and the patient outcomes.

The performs basic, translational, and clinical research on Zinc metabolism and inflammatory bowel disease.

The Joanna Peloquin Lab focuses on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We're working on individualized care for IBD patients through functional genomic studies, specifically those related to diet, host and microbiota interactions.

The Joanne Shay Lab primarily conducts research on pediatric pain management techniques. Our studies have explored pain management in special-needs children and patients, and we have studied non-traditional pain management methods, such as regional anesthesia and peripheral nerve blocks in children, medical acupuncture, and remote anesthesia services. We also have an ongoing interest in the business of medicine.

Research in the Jochen Steppan Lab primarily focused on vascular stiffness related to aging. We are currently researching LOXL2 (lysine-oxidase-like-2), which might be intimately involved in the development or progression of vascular stiffness. We aim to better understand LOXL2's role in the vasculature and hope that this work leads to the characterization of a novel therapeutic target. This is important in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases in the aging population.

Research in the Jodi Segal Lab focuses on developing methodologies to use observational data to understand the use of new drugs, particularly drugs for treating diabetes, blood disorders and osteoporosis. We apply advanced methods for evidence-based review and meta-analysis, and—in collaboration with Johns Hopkins biostatisticians—we have developed new methodologies for observational research (using propensity scores to adjust for covariates that change over time) and methods to account for competing risks and heterogeneity of treatment effects in analyses.