Our new faculty member Dr. Cherry Ho just published an exciting study online in JAMA Neurology. She and her colleagues find that inflammation-caused nerve damage weakens odor signals to the brain. Anosmia, the loss of smell, is a frequent and often long-term symptom associated with COVID-19 that can severely burden a person’s quality of life, making it extremely difficult to taste foods, detect airborne hazards in the environment and carry out other functions dependent on the sense. While the devastating impacts of COVID-mediated anosmia are well known, the biological mechanisms underlying t ..read more

We are excited to announce that Dr. Ho joined our faculty in January 2022 as an Associate Professor. She received her M.D. from National Taiwan University (2003) and a Ph.D. from Columbia University in New York (2009). Her subsequent AP/NP training was at Johns Hopkins, followed by faculty positions at George Washington University and the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Her clinical work will include general autopsy and eye pathology. Her research studies, currently supported by a K08, focus on diabetic neuropathy ..read more

We are excited to announce that Jonathan Ling, Ph.D., is now an Assistant Professor of Pathology at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. His areas of expertise are bioinformatics, RNA splicing, neuropathology, and genetic engineering. Dr. Ling completed his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University in 2010 with a focus in Tissue Engineering. In 2017, Dr. Ling received a Ph.D. in Pathobiology from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine for identifying the role of cryptic exon repression in neurodegenerative diseases. From 2017-2020, Dr. Ling joined the JHU Kavli Neuroscience Di ..read more

A new research study published June 20 in Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology found key biological differences between aggressive and more indolent, less harmful brain tumors that develop in neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) patients. NF1 is a genetic disorder that can predispose those affected to benign and cancerous nervous system tumors. “These findings may lead to better diagnostic/prognostic tests and insights into therapeutic targets,” says Fausto Rodriguez, M.D., senior author and professor of pathology. “We identified differences in global levels of microRNAs between high grade (aggre ..read more

Dr. Meaghan Morris is a neuropathologist and neuroscientist whose research focuses on understanding the molecular basis for Alzheimer’s disease and other age-related dementias, with the ultimate goal of identifying new therapeutic targets for Alzheimer’s disease treatment. These investigations combine insights from brain tissue donated by patients with age-related neurodegenerative diseases, studies in cell culture models, and cutting edge molecular techniques to uncover new pathways involved in Alzheimer’s disease. Currently, her research is focused on how neuronal function and neuronal synap ..read more

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center report that their study of tumor samples from people with the rare genetic syndrome neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) has uncovered novel molecular clues about which tumors are most likely to be aggressive in those with NF1. According to the researchers, the clues could advance the search for more customized and relevant treatments that spare patients exposure to treatments unlikely to work. Caption ‘Telomere alterations in NF-1solid tumors.  NF1-associated gliomas demonstrated telemeres of normal lenght (a), long (comparted to internal ..read more

In search of treatments and cures for diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, researchers need actual human tissue. The Brain Resource Center has the diseased and healthy specimens they’re after. The article below was originally published in the HUB Magazine. The brain of Michael W. displayed many of the hallmark characteristics of Alzheimer’s disease. There were visible clumps of beta-amyloid protein fragments wedged between nerve cells. Our chemistry normally breaks down and eliminates these proteins, but with Alzheimer’s the fragments accumulate to form hard, insoluble plaques. Michael ..read more

Neuropathology division faculty and fellows have reviewed how Neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1) affects the brain in a recent paper published in Acta Neuropathologica. NF1 is a common autosomal dominant genetic disorder. Patients with NF1 are at increased risk for central nervous system (CNS) manifestations including structural, functional, and neoplastic diseases. A variety of non-neoplastic structural (macrocephaly, hydrocephalus, aqueductal stenosis, and vasculopathy) and functional (epilepsy, impaired cognition, attention deficits, and autism spectrum disorder) abnormalities occur with variable fr ..read more

We are excited to announce that Dr. CJ Lucas joined our faculty in August 2022 as an Assistant Professor. After undergraduate studies at Johns Hopkins, he received his M.D. from the University of California San Francisco in 2018, and stayed there for AP/NP training. His clinical work will include surgical neuropathology, and his research is focused on using molecular tools to improve brain tumor classification and diagnosis ..read more

Our new faculty member Dr. Cherry Ho just published an exciting study online in JAMA Neurology. She and her colleagues find that inflammation-caused nerve damage weakens odor signals to the brain. Anosmia, the loss of smell, is a frequent and often long-term symptom associated with COVID-19 that can severely burden a person’s quality of life, making it extremely difficult to taste foods, detect airborne hazards in the environment and carry out other functions dependent on the sense. While the devastating impacts of COVID-mediated anosmia are well known, the biological mechanisms underlying t ..read more