Dr. Tina Tarnawsky, working with colleagues in the Institute of Informatics, Data Science, and Bioinformatics, used electronic health care records to determine the age and cause of death of adults with NF1. In her study with Drs. Aditi Gupta, she found an early death peak in the fourth decade of life largely due to cancer. […]
Jit Chatterjee, PhD, a senior researcher in the laboratory of Dr. David Gutmann, recently found that bacteria in the intestines are important for brain tumor development and progression in mouse models of NF1. In collaboration with Megan Baldridge, MD, PhD, he showed that mice harboring optic gliomas treated with specific antibiotics had reduced tumor growth. […]
The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) is a nonprofit medical honor society founded in 1908, and is one of the nation’s oldest medical honor societies composed of more than 3,000 physician-scientists representing all medical specialties. The Society is dedicated to the advancement of research that extends understanding of diseases and improves treatment, and members […]
Julia Katz, MD, a pediatrics resident at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, worked with collaborators at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, to characterize precocious puberty in children with NF1 optic gliomas. Dr. Katz found that prior chemotherapy does not prevent the development of precocious puberty. Current work is now focused on better understanding the relationship between […]
David H. Gutmann, MD, PhD, the Donald O. Schnuck Family Professor and Director of the Washington University NF Center was awarded a fellowship to visit Heidelberg University. The purpose of the fellowship was to strengthen collaboration between researchers at both institutions in the areas of brain cancer.
The Wash U NF team happily hosted Springworks Therapeutics for a Day of NF Education in October 2024. The Wash U team shared their multidisciplinary insights into the management of all aspects of NF1 care with the Springworks team. The day included a series of lectures from the providers, an educational mock tumor board as […]
On Friday, November 9, Megan Ouyang presented her research at the Washington University Fall 2024 Undergraduate Research Symposium. Megan has been working with Dr. Jit Chatterjee on the role of the gut microbiota in controlling low-grade optic glioma growth in NF1. During the symposium, Megan discussed her findings and future research directions.
As the Washington University Neurofibromatosis (NF) Center enters its third decade of facilitating collaborations between clinicians and scientists, we celebrate the accomplishments of our members and the progress made towards personalizing our medical management of individuals living with NF. Over the past year, we have witnessed continued expansion of both our clinical and research programs, […]
In collaboration with Dr. Michelle Monje at Stanford University, a team of researchers in the Washington University NF Center (Drs. Gutmann and Pan) recently published in Nature Neuroscience. This work sought to understand how NF1 mutations affect oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs). OPCs are actively dividing cells in the brain that give rise to oligodendrocytes, which provide […]
The Banbury Center at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory hosted a focused meeting on Cognition and Behavior in NF1 on October 20-23, 2024. Sponsored by Penny’ FlightTM, the goal of this meeting was to identify gaps in our understanding of these common problems in NF1 and to chart a course forward. Leveraging expertise from laboratory scientists […]
The Center of Regenerative Medicine (CRM) Distinguished Postdoctoral Scholars Program aims to train researchers to make significant contributions in the field of regenerative medicine through an interdisciplinary approach. Fellows are paired with a CRM faculty mentor to conduct research on projects aligned with key areas such as cell fate engineering and regenerative therapeutics. This one-year […]
The NF Center celebrates Dru Jenkins on being named Research Staff Employee of the Quarter for the first quarter of FY25! Dru is an absolutely wonderful employee. She is always ready to help with a smile and without her, the Gutmann Lab would NOT function. Her selflessness, organizational skills, and ability to care for others, […]
Raising children is hard. Period. End of story. Raising a child with a medical condition is really hard, but not the end of the story. Many parents go to sleep at night and wake up each morning wondering just how we can take our precious babies from childhood, into an adulthood where they might not […]
Dr. Yunshuo “Caroline” Tang, MD, PhD, (Assistant Professor, Washington University) was recently awarded a five-year grant from the National Institute of Health to study the extrinsic and intrinsic mechanisms of vision loss in a mouse model of Nf1-associated optic pathway glioma (Nf1-OPG). Dr. Tang will study how extrinsic inflammatory insults and intrinsic abnormalities in cyclic AMP […]
Dr. Sheel Pathak MD, was recently promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology. This is a major milestone in the career of a clinical faculty member at Washington University, signifying excellence in patient care, resident and student education. Dr. Pathak provides general neurologic care for patients with a variety of […]
Children with NF1 are at risk for developing brain tumors in the optic pathway (optic pathway gliomas, OPGs), which can cause vision loss and endocrine problems. However, it is currently unclear which children with NF1 will develop these tumors, or how severe their disease will become. Using mouse models of NF1, the Brossier Lab recently identified […]
Letter Summary from Children’s Tumor Foundation Driven by the NF patient community, Children’s Tumor Foundation (CTF), with guidance from its Clinical Care Advisory Board (CCAB), developed a Designation System to assist families in identifying potential clinics that might meet specific patient needs. Based on other rare disease clinic designation models, CTF and the CCAB established […]
Lori Forster graduated from Georgia State University in 2022 with a PhD in Neuroscience. Her PhD thesis was on regulation of the hyperpolarization activated cyclic nucleotide gated ion channel 2 (HCN2) by post-translational modification, SUMO, in inflammatory pain. She recently joined the Gutmann laboratory as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate, where she will focus on defining […]
On Saturday July 20th, the Washington University NF Center hosted its 2nd Annual NF Family Day for our patients and their families. Held at Grants Farm in St. Louis, MO, participants had the opportunity to learn about IEPs, transition to adulthood, and educational apps from a licensed Occupational Therapist. As an added bonus, they also […]
Dr. Yunshuo “Caroline” Tang, MD, PhD, was recently promoted to the rank of Assistant Professor in the Departments of Neurology and Ophthalmology. This is a major milestone in the career of a faculty member at Washington University, signifying excellence in research and outstanding clinical contributions. Dr. Tang is an emerging leader in the investigation of […]