Stacey Huppert, PhD
Department of Pediatrics
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital
Seminar Title: Mechanisms regulating hepatic epithelial cell plasticity and identity
Biography
Dr. Stacey S. Huppert, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital (CCHMC) and Department of Pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Her commitment to Notch signaling spans over twenty years since beginning her graduate training. In the laboratory of Dr. Marc A. T. Muskavitch at Indiana University, she demonstrated that Notch signaling exerts feedback regulation on ligand and receptor expression, and that the resultant asymmetries underlie proper cell fate determination (PMID: 9310323). As a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Raphael Kopan’s Laboratory and then as an Instructor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Pharmacology at Washington University School of Medicine, she continued to study Notch signaling mechanisms. Generating a mouse with a targeted mutation at the gamma-secretase cleavage site within Notch1, she demonstrated that intramembranous processing of Notch1 and release of the Notch intracellular domain (NICD) is indispensable for proper embryonic development (PMID: 10879540).
Currently Dr. Huppert’s research program investigates hepatic cell plasticity and switching of liver cell identities to build missing liver bile ducts (PMID: 29720662) and formation of the three-dimensional hepatic architecture during development, homeostasis and regeneration. Her group uses multiple models of Alagille syndrome (ALGS) – mouse experimental and human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). They are focused on enhancing the potential of hepatocytes to restore bile ducts of patients with Alagille syndrome and other hepatobiliary diseases on two fronts: 1. Identify possible treatments for children whose liver disease is related to a lack of bile ducts by testing modifiers of Notch signaling (PMID: 37021797), and 2. Correcting the bile duct supporting mesenchymal cell niche (https://www.rarediseaseadvisor.com/news/easing-bile-duct-paucity-algs-through-peribiliary-mesenchyme/).
