Dr. Sarah E. Lutz
Assistant Professor
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology
Contact
Office: 7093 COMRB
Lab: 7088 COMRB
email: [email protected]
Phone: (312) 355-2499
Rotation Projects
Our lab addresses damage and repair of the blood-brain barrier in multiple sclerosis, COVID-19, and aging.
1. Test the neuroprotective and regenerative capacitive of myelin-specific CD4+ regulatory T cells we have engineered for increased blood-brain barrier interactions. 2. Quantify BBB leakage in recently generated inducible tight junction knock-out mice. We plan to use these mice as tools in several projects, including testing CNS autoreactivity of antibodies derived from COVID-19 patient sera. 3. Test whether reduced Wnt/beta-catenin signaling in the BBB in advanced age causes the increased susceptibility of elderly individuals to COVID encephalitis, using our novel mouse models of BBB infection with SARS-CoV-2 Keywords: Blood-brain barrier, neuroinflammation, T cells, multiple sclerosis, COVID
– Neurovascular inflammation in mouse models of human disease.