Our Team

Principal Investigator

David H. Gutmann, MD, PhD

David Gutmann received his undergraduate, graduate (PhD) and medical (MD) degrees from the University of Michigan, where he trained in immunogenetics in the laboratory of Dr. John Niederhuber. During his residency in Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania, he worked with Dr. Kenneth Fischbeck who sparked his interest in neurogenetics. He then returned to the University of Michigan for research fellowship training in Human Genetics with Dr. Francis Collins. During that time, he identified the neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) protein and began to elucidate its function as a negative RAS regulator. In late 1993, Dr. Gutmann was recruited to Washington University, becoming a full professor in 2001 and the Donald O. Schnuck Family Professor in 2002. He established the St. Louis Children’s Hospital Neurofibromatosis Clinical Program in 1994 and the Washington University Neurofibromatosis Center in 2004.

Dr. Gutmann also founded and directs one of the world’s largest centers focused on NF and related disorders, trained numerous clinicians and researchers in NF in collaborative crossdisciplinary research, and developed several innovative community-based therapy programs to provide integrated medical care for this population across the lifespan. Moreover, he has led numerous international efforts to establish medical practice guidelines for the field and facilitate the translation of laboratory and clinical discoveries to improved patient care, including several human molecularly-targeted therapeutic trials. As part of his commitment to training and global partnerships, Dr. Gutmann developed an international inherited cancer syndrome tumor board with colleagues in Pediatric Oncology that currently serves 32 institutions in 23 countries worldwide. Leveraging a five-year Berlin Institute of Health fellowship, he established an investigative team at the Max Delbrück Center with Professor Helmut Kettenmann to provide international training opportunities and research partnerships. Lastly, Dr. Gutmann is committed to the training of biomedical scientists as evidenced by his service as Vice Chair for Research Affairs in the Department of Neurology, a member of the Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences (graduate school) Executive Faculty, a member of the Promotions Committee in the Departments of Neurology and Developmental Biology, and as co-PI for the NINDS Neurology T32 and Neurosurgery/Neurology R25 resident postgraduate training programs.

Dr. Gutmann has published over 500 peer-reviewed manuscripts, and his research laboratory has been continuous funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1993, including a National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke R35 Research Program (MERIT) Award. In addition, he has been recognized for his achievements with numerous awards, including the 2012 Children’s Tumor Foundation Frederich von Recklinghausen Lifetime Achievement Award, a 2013 Washington University Distinguished Faculty Research Award, a 2017 Alexander von Humboldt Award, the 2019 Society for Neuro-Oncology Abhijit Guha Award, the 2020 National Neurofibromatosis Network Advocate of Hope Award, the 2020 American Academy of Neurology Neuro-Oncology Scientific Award, and the 2020 American Association of Neurology triennial George W. Jacoby Award. He is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, the American Neurological Association, the Association of American Physicians, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the National Academy of Medicine, as well as a former member of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Advisory Council.

Interview with Dr. Gutmann »
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View David H. Gutmann’s Curriculum Vitae »
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Project Manager

Drusilla Jenkins, MHCOE

Education:
BS, Industrial & Organizational Psychology, Washington University, St. Louis, 2019

MHCOE, Healthcare Operational Excellence, Washington University, McKelvey School of Engineering, St. Louis, 2022

Faculty

Corina Anastasaki, PhD
Assistant Professor in Neurology

Education:
BSc, Genetics, University of York, 2006
MSc, Human Genetics, University of Edinburgh, 2007
PhD in Human Genetics, University of Edinburgh, 2011
Research Focus:
Discovering new approaches (utilizing iPSCs) to identify targets for managing NF1 neuronal dysfunction

View Dr. Anastasaki’s publications

Yunshuo “Caroline” Tang, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor in Neurology

Education:
BA, University of California, Berkeley, 2005
PhD, University of California, San Francisco, 2015
MD, University of California, San Francisco, 2017
Research Focus:
My research focuses on defining why retinal ganglion cells die in the setting of Nf1 optic glioma, and result in vision loss. I am using a variety of approaches, including single cell RNA sequencing, to determine which RGC subtypes are most susceptible to optic glioma-induced death, and to leverage these findings to identify new treatments to reduce vision loss.

Staff Scientists

Jit Chatterjee, PhD

Education:
BSc, Fergusson College, Pune, India, 2011
MSc, MS University Baroda, Gujarat, India, 2013
PhD in Neurobiology, Department of Applied Zoology, Mangalore University, Mangalore, India, 2018
Research Focus:
Risk factors for brain tumor formation and progression

Enquan Xu, PhD

Education:

PhD in Neuropharmacology and Immunology, University of Nebraska, 2017
Research Focus:
Advanced stem cell modeling of brain tumors

Bioinformatics Specialists

Olivia Cobb, MSBIS

Education:
BA, Liberal Arts, Thomas Aquinas College, 2016
MS, Biostatistics, Washington University in St. Louis, Dec 2019
Research Focus:
Bioinformatic analytics for laboratory projects

Technicians

Stephanie Bozeman, BS

Education:
BS, Biochemistry, Missouri Southern State University
Research Focus:
Preventing vision loss from NF1 optic gliomas in mice

Yunqing (Clare) Gao, BA

Education:
BA, Biology, Boston University 2022
Research Focus:
Neuronal regulation of brain tumor growth

Michelle Lambert, BS

Education:
BS, Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, 2014
Research Focus:
Human induced pluripotent stem modeling of brain tumors in NF1

Xuanhe “Dahlia” Qi, BA

Education:
BA, Chemistry, Washington University in St. Louis, 2022
Research Focus:
Modeling low-grade brain tumors in mice

Postdoctoral Fellows

Rasha Barakat, PhD

Education:
MSc, Neuroscience, American University of Beirut
PhD in Neurobiology, Université De Paris
Research Focus:
T cell trafficking and stromal interactions in brain tumors

Alexander Chen, PhD

Education:
BA, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA
PhD in Cancer Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Research Focus:
Exploring the role of cell of origin in pediatric brain tumors

Lori Forster, PhD

Education:
PhD in Education, Georgia State University
Research Focus:
Defining the molecular basis for cancer-related neuronal hyperexcitability

Vaishali Mulchandani, PhD

Education:
PhD in Education, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata
Research Focus:
Molecular and Cellular Biology of NF1 Low-Grade Brain Tumor Neoplastic Transformation

Shintaro Yamada, MD, PhD

Education:
MD, PhD, in Education, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Research Focus:
Leveraging systems biology approaches for personalized medicine

Graduate Trainees