Roles
Research Professor
Director, Animal Core
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Biography
Dr. Merscher obtained her Ph.D. degree in Human Genetics from the University of Saarland, Saarbrucken, Germany. For her postdoctoral fellowship, she joined Dr. Raju Kucherlapati’s Laboratory in the Department of Molecular Genetics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY and at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA where she worked on the generation and phenotypical analysis of mouse models for Velo-Cardio-Facial Syndrome. After her postdoctoral fellowship, she specialized in the generation of mouse models for proteinuric kidney diseases. In this capacity, she worked as Research Assistant Professor with several investigators at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY and then at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL.
Current research in her laboratory focuses on elucidating and understanding the molecular mechanisms that contribute to the development of proteinuria with a special emphasis on the role of cellular lipids in the pathogenesis of kidney diseases of metabolic and non-metabolic origins.
Dr. Merscher has co-authored more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles, she is scientific reviewer for several peer-reviewed scientific journals and Associate Editor for Frontiers in Medicine (Nephrology). -
Education & Training
Education
Post Graduate Training
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Honors & Awards
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Teaching Interests
I have a longstanding interest in mentoring and teaching undergraduate and graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows in acquiring all skills necessary to become a successful and independent young investigator. I am Faculty of the Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology Graduate program in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology. -
Research Interests
Research in my laboratory focuses on elucidating and understanding the molecular mechanisms that contribute to the development of proteinuria in glomerular diseases with an emphasis on lipotoxicity-induced podocyte injury. We have demonstrated that aberrant cholesterol and sphingolipid metabolism contributes to podocyte injury in chronic kidney disease.
Based on these data, we have several highly innovative and translational projects ongoing to investigate the mechanisms of lipid-mediated cytotoxicity in podocytes that contribute to glomerular disease, that are amenable to therapeutic intervention and have a high potential for rapid clinical translatability. -
Publications
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Copyrights & Patents
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Professional Activities
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