Funded by Foundation

Dr. Christopher Ng was a pediatric hematology/oncology fellow at the University of Colorado - Anschutz Medical Campus. Dr. Ng attended medical school at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California and completed his pediatrics residency at the University of Washington/Seattle Children's Hospital. Dr. Ng received the NHF-Baxalta Clinical Fellowship in 2013. Dr. Ng's 2015 JGP research fellowship award project focused on a multi-system evaluation of von Willebrand factor function in Type 1 von Willebrand Disease mutations.

Dr. Tine Wyseure obtained her Master’s degree in Drug Discovery and Development, and earned her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Leuven, Belgium. Since 2015, she has been a research associate in the lab of Dr. Laurent Mosnier at The Scripps Research Institute in San Diego. Dr. Wyseure’s 2016 JGP research fellowship award project is focused on investigating the effects of impaired TAFI activation in hemophilia on the progression of hemophilic joint disease. The lack of active TAFI worsens joint bleeding and chronic inflammation and drives the striking development of fragile blood vessels in diseased joints. In search of the missing link, Dr. Wyseure has discovered a novel paradigm on how the formation of new blood vessels is controlled by TAFI and suggests that patients with hemophilia may lack this control switch, causing the formation of unstable and leaky blood vessels.

Dr. Laura Sommerville graduated cum laude from Messiah College and then obtained her MS and PhD degrees in cellular and molecular biology from Temple University. Her graduate work and doctoral dissertation produced several awards and publications in peer reviewed publications. She has been a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Maureane Hoffman at Duke University since July 2014. Dr. Sommerville's 2015 JGP research fellowship award project is on understanding the loss of perivascular tissue factor during angiogenesis in hemophilia.

Per Dr. Fu, the JGP provided her with the opportunity to work on hemophilia, as well as von Willebrand disease. After the completion of her JGP project, Dr. Fu remained in the bleeding disorder field.

Dr. Parthasarathy's research will tackle two important biological issues in coagulation - namely how procofactor FVIII converts to the active cofactor form (FVIIIa) and binds to IX and X, and the location of FVIII in generating the active Xase complex. Results from this study will provide molecular and biochemical insights into the role of FVIIIa in regulating hemostasis and further elucidate the interactions between coagulation complexes. Dr. Parthasarathy obtained his Masters in Biotechnology from Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India and received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Kansas in 2011. He has been a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Dr. Rodney Camire at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia since July 2011. This award has been made possible through a generous donation from Hemophilia of Georgia, Inc.

Dr. Chappell's research project will develop a model for characterizing bleeding in hemophilia and particularly in joints. Using mouse models of hematoma formation and knee joint bleeding, Dr. Chappell will use 3D fluorescent imaging technology in "living" hemophilia B mice to better trace bleeding over time- from induction of a bleed to its resolution. This project will provide additional insights on the basic science underlying hemophilic bleeds, not to mention the optimal interventions and timing of treatment to potentially prevent damage caused by bleeds. Dr. Chappell earned her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from UNC Chapel Hill in 2013. She will pursue her research under the mentorship of Dr. Dougald Monroe, Professor in the Division of Hematology/Oncology, UNC School of Medicine and the UNC McAllister Heart Institute.

Dr. Noh's research will utilize induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) and manipulate them in vitro to expand production of megakaryocytes and platelets that express therapeutic proteins, including FVIII. The project will further determine whether this system of autologous platelets which overexpress FVIII can be delivered directly to the site of injury and hemorrhage, thereby circumventing and evading neutralization by alloantibody inhibitors in hemophilia A. Dr. Noh received her Ph.D. in Preventive Pharmacology from Seoul National University in South Korea. She has been a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Mitchell Weiss' lab at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia since 2012. Dr. Noh is currently being mentored in this JGP project by Dr. Mortimer Poncz at CHOP.

The goal of Dr. Chen's research is to examine a method for selectively expanding hematopoietic stem cells expressing the factor VIII transgene. She will also examine the immune consequences of this approach, based on the idea that gene transfer in platelets evades immune recognition. This research has the potential to elicit important clues to developing an approach for gene therapy of hemophilia A and hemophilia A with inhibitors.

Dr. Chen earned a PhD in hematology from Fujian Medical University in China. She already has more than 27 papers published in the Chinese medical literature. Her research in hemophilia and gene therapy will be under the mentorship of Dr. Qizhen Shi, MD, PhD, Associate Investigator at the Blood Research Institute and Assistant Professor of Pediatric Hematology at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Dr. Yee earned his undergraduate Credentials from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute before receiving his doctorate from Rice University. His eventual goal is to operate an independent research laboratory in the field of bioengineering with a focus on understanding molecular mechanisms of hemostasis, thrombosis and vascular diseases. Dr. Yee's research project deals with factor VIII and its adhesion to its chaperone protein, von Willebrand factor. In these experiments, fragments of von Willebrand factor are screened for optimal factor VIII stabilization. By further studying the architecture of the "Factor VIII-von Willebrand Factor" complex, Dr. Yee seeks to gain insight to improve designs of novel therapeutics.