Risheng Xu
Johns Hopkins University, MD·Neuroscience·Early-career
In ischemic stroke, a blocked artery starves part of the brain of blood. The damage that follows is made worse by inflammation: the brain's immune cells activate and white blood cells pour in, killing more neurons.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Microbiology & Immunology
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
ischemic stroke
cerebral ischemia
neuroinflammation
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Apr 2028
What they work on
- Identify which mast-cell inflammatory signals, such as TNFα and CCL2, are controlled by the receptor Mrgprb2 after ischemic stroke induced by transient middle cerebral artery occlusion in mice.
- Determine where Mrgprb2 is found and how much is made in mast cells of the brain and meninges, the protective membranes around the brain.
- Find the natural trigger of Mrgprb2 in stroke by screening known Mrgprb2 activators after tMCAO, and test Mrgprb2 inhibitors as possible stroke treatments.
More about the research
No treatment yet limits this inflammatory damage. Mast cells, long-lived immune cells in tissue that act as early responders, can set off many inflammatory pathways at once. Blocking them might therefore calm several of these pathways together.
Why it matters
Patients with ischemic stroke currently have no therapy that limits the inflammatory damage following the initial blockage. By clarifying how mast cells drive this inflammation through the Mrgprb2 receptor, this work could validate Mrgprb2 as a new treatment target. Its inhibitors could then be candidates for reducing brain injury after stroke.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Gordon Meares
Ohio State University, OH·Neuroscience
Test whether deleting PERK, an ER stress sensor, in astrocytes or microglia improves outcome after experimental stroke, using mice with cell-specific PERK loss and middle cerebral artery occlusion.
Qing Lin
Ohio State University, OH·Microbiology & Immunology
Test whether turning Mrgprb2 signaling, a mast-cell surface receptor pathway, up or down changes skin scarring and regeneration, using gene-modified mouse lines in wound healing models.
Jason D Huber
West Virginia University, WV·Pharmacology
Test whether NL-1, a compound that binds the mitochondrial protein mitoNEET, prevents ferroptosis (iron-dependent cell death) in a four-cell Transwell blood-brain barrier model after oxygen-glucose deprivation and reperfusion.
The school
Johns Hopkins University: 100 labs on PI Pages, $4.1B a year on research, 622 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.