The Douglas Ball Lab conducts clinical trials and pre-clinical laboratory studies of thyroid cancer. Our clinical trials, performed in collaboration with research staff in the upper aero-digestive group in the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, have included protocols for advanced radioiodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer and medullary thyroid cancer. Our pre-clinical research, conducted with Dr. Nelkin, Dr. Agrawal and other Kimmel Cancer Center researchers, includes pathogenesis and mechanisms of treatment resistance in medullary thyroid cancer, and pathogenesis and immune-directed therapy of anaplastic thyroid cancer.

Barbara Slusher, M.A.S., Ph.D., leads a 20-member veteran drug discovery team of medicinal chemists, assay developers, pharmacologists, toxicologists and pharmacokinetic/drug metabolism experts, who identify novel drug targets arising from JHU faculty’s research and translate them into new, small molecule drug therapies. Her team collaborates extensively with faculty at the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and leads the BKI immunotherapy drug discovery core, aimed at developing new immune-targeting drug therapies for laboratory and clinical testing at Johns Hopkins.

Researchers in the David Thompson Lab examine the outcomes of patients treated in intensive care units (ICUs), patient safety efforts, quality improvement efforts, and multidisciplinary teamwork and safety curriculum development. We're taking part in a study aimed at reducing hospital-acquired infections among cardiovascular surgery patients. Our investigators also participated in a clinical research collaboration that saw an 81 percent reduction in bloodstream infections related to central lines.

Research in the Daniel Brotman Lab focuses on aspects of hospital medicine such as quality improvement, patient satisfaction and perioperative medicine. We recently conducted a cohort study of hypertensive African Americans to examine how access to care, treatment ambivalence and medication non-adherence affect long-term mortality.

The Dara Kraitchman Laboratory focuses on non-invasive imaging and minimally invasive treatment of cardiovascular disease. Our laboratory is actively involved in developing new methods to image myocardial function and perfusion using MRI. Current research interests are aimed at determining the optimal timing and method of the administration of mesenchymal stem cells to regenerate infarcted myocardium using non-invasive MR fluoroscopic delivery and imaging. MRI and radiolabeling techniques include novel MR and radiotracer stem cell labeling methods to determine the location, quantity and biodistribution of stem cells after delivery as well as to noninvasively determine the efficacy of these therapies in acute myocardial infarction and peripheral arterial disease. Our other research focuses on the development of new animal models of human disease for noninvasive imaging studies and the development of promising new therapies in clinical trials for companion animals.

The Daniel Weinberger Laboratory focuses on the neurobiological mechanisms of genetic risk for developmental brain disorders. We study the genetic regulation of the transcriptome in normal human brain across the human life span and in brains from patients with various psychiatric disorders. We also study the impact of genetic variation on aspects of human brain development and function linked with risk for schizophrenia and related psychiatric disorders. Our lab uses unique molecular and clinical datasets and biological materials from a large sample of families with affected and unaffected offspring and normal volunteers. These datasets include DNA, lymphoblast and fibroblast cell lines, and extensive quantitative phenotypes related to genetic risk for schizophrenia, including detailed cognitive assessments and various neuroimaging assays. In other research, we are working on a human brain transcriptome project that is RNA sequencing over 1,000 human brain samples in various regions and based also on sorting of specific celliular phentypes. We are exploring the molecular processing of the gene and its implications for cognition and aspects of human temperament.

Research in the Elizabeth Tucker Lab aims to find treatments that decrease neuroinflammation and improve recovery, as well as to improve morbidity and mortality in patients with infectious neurological diseases. We are currently working with Drs. Sujatha Kannan and Sanjay Jain to study neuroinflammation related to central nervous system tuberculosis – using an animal model to examine the role of neuroinflammation in this disease and how it can differ in developing brains and adult brains. Our team also is working with Dr. Jain to study noninvasive imaging techniques for use in monitoring disease progression and evaluating treatment responses.

Wilmer Bioinformatics has been mainly focused on ocular informatics. Specifically, the group develops and applies bioinformatics approaches to study gene regulation and signaling networks, with particular but not exclusive attention to the mammalian retina. Understanding the molecular basis of tissue specific gene regulation and signaling will contribute to better prevention, diagnosis and treatment of retinal disease.

The lab currently focuses on identifying genetic alterations in cancer affecting sensitivity and resistance to targeted therapies, and connecting such changes to key clinical characteristics and novel therapeutic approaches. We have recently developed methods that allow noninvasive characterization of cancer, including the PARE method that provided the first whole genome analysis of tumor DNA in the circulation of cancer patients. These analyses provide a window into real-time genomic analyses of cancer patients and provide new avenues for personalized diagnostic and therapeutic intervention.

We are continually in motion. This self-motion is sensed by the vestibular system, which contributes to an impressive range of brain functions, from the most automatic reflexes to spatial perception and motor coordination. The objective of Dr. Cullen's lab's research program is to understand the mechanisms by which self-motion (vestibular) information is encoded and then integrated with signals from other modalities to ensure accurate perception and control of gaze and posture. Our studies investigate the sensorimotor transformations required for the control of movement, by tracing the coding of vestibular stimuli from peripheral afferents, to behaviorally-contingent responses in central pathways, to the readout of accurate perception and behavior. Our experimental approach is multidisciplinary and includes a combination of behavioral, neurophysiological and computational approaches in alert behaving non-human primates and mice. Funding for the laboratory has been and is provided by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR), The National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), FQRNT / FQRSC (Quebec).