Leah Marie Wuescher, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor - Research Track
Affiliation: Randall G. Worth, Ph.D.
College of Medicine and Life Sciences
Department of Medical Microbiology& Immunology
Lab Phone: 419-383-6381
Email: Leah.Wuescher@utoledo.edu听

Leah

Leah Wuescher laboratory:

Host-Pathogen Interactions, Tissue Healing

Our laboratory studies platelet-mediated effects on innate immune responses. The platelet, an anucleate cell in the bloodstream has a primary role in hemostasis. However, previous research has shown that platelets are necessary for effective immune function, and we have shown they are necessary for survival during respiratory viral infections. The Wuescher lab is investigating the molecular pathways involved in both platelet antiviral responses and platelet-mediated regulation of immune cell activities. Using this information, we can develop therapies to help improve outcomes in these infections. Additionally, the laboratory has a project investigating the role of platelets in harnessing the immune system to improve healing of hypovascularized tissues. We use targeted mechanical and molecular approaches to examine how platelets can optimize tendon remodeling after injury, thereby improving the morbidity associated with these types of injuries.

Education听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听

The University of Toledo College of Medicine听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Toledo, OH
Ph.D.听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听Completed December 2012
Research: Effects of menin on hepatic glucose production

The University of Toledo听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Toledo, OH
B.S.听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听Completed December 2007
Major: Biology

听Publications

Shortridge C, Akbari Fakhrabadi E, Wuescher LM, Worth RG, Liberatore MW, Yildirim-Ayan E.. Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Jan 24; 22(3):1134. doi:听10.3390/ijms22031134.
Gautam I, Storad,Z, Filipiak L, Huss C, Meikle CK, Worth RG, Wuescher LM.听听 Biology (Basel). 听2020 Oct 20;9(10):E343. doi: 10.3390/biology9100343.
Meikle CK, Meisler AJ, Bird CM, Jeffries JA, Azeem N, Garg P, Crawford EL, Kelly CA, Gao TZ, Wuescher LM, Willey JM, Worth,RG. PLoS One. 2020 Aug 10;15(8):e0236966.听 doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0236966
Schultz CM, Goel A, Dunn A, Knauss H, Huss C, Launder D, Wuescher LM, Conti HR, Worth RG. Infect Immun. 2020 Jan 13. pii: IAI.00784-19. doi: 10.1128/IAI.00784-19.
Wuescher LM, Nishat S, Worth RG. Res Pract Thromb Haemost. 2019;00:1鈥�9. doi: 10.1002/rth2.12255
听 Adams S, Wuescher LM, Worth RG, Yildirim-Ayan E. Ann Biomed Eng. 2019 Jun 19. doi: 10.1007/s10439-019-02302-4. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 31218484
Nishat S, Wuescher LM, Worth RG. Infect Immun. 2018 Jun 18. pii: IAI.00186-18. doi: 10.1128/IAI.00186-18. [Epub ahead of print] PMID:29914928.
听Meikle CKS, Kelly CA, Garg P, Wuescher LM, Ali RA, Worth RG. Cancer and Thrombosis: Front. Cell Dev. Biol. 听2017 doi:10.3389/fcell.2016.00147
Ali RA, Wuescher LM, Dona KR, Worth RG. J Immunol.听2017 Jan 1;198(1):344-351. Epub 2016 Nov 28.
Haller ST, Kumarasamy S, Folt DA, Wuescher LM, Stepkowski S, Karamchandani M, Waghulde H, Mell B, Chaudhry M, Maxwell K, Upadhyaya S, Drummond CA, Tian J, Filipiak WE, Saunders TL, Shapiro JI, Joe B, Cooper CJ. Kidney International 2016 doi:10.1016/j.kint.2016.08.015
Ali RA, Wuescher LM, Worth RG. Curr Trends in Immunol. 2015;16:65-78.
Law W, Wuescher LM, Ortega A, Hapiak VM, Komuniecki PR, Komuniecki R.听 `1听 Plos Pathog. 2015 Apr 30;11(4):e1004794.
Wuescher LM, Takashima A, Worth RG.听 J Thromb Haemost. 2014 Nov 22. doi: 10.1111/jth.12795
Stechschulte LA, Wuescher L, Marino JS, Hill JW, Eng C, Hinds Jr. TD.听 J Biol Chem 2014 May 9. pii: jbc.M113.544072.
Angevine K, Wuescher L, Mensah-Osman EJ.听 2013 2(4): 0-9.
Angevine K, Wuescher L, Andrews K, Alexander LA, McInerney MF, Kieffer TJ, Mensah-Osman EJ.听 Nutrition and Diabetes 2012 Dec 3;2:e55. doi: 10.1038/nutd.2012.30
Wuescher L, Angevine K, Patel PR, Mensah-Osman EJ. Nutrition and Diabetes 2012 May 28;2:e34. doi: 10.1038/nutd.2012.7
Wuescher L, Angevine K, Hinds T, Ramakrishnan S, Najjar SM, Mensah-Osman EJ. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab September 2011 301:(3) E474-E483; published ahead of print June 21, 2011, doi:10.1152/ajpendo.00022.2011

Abstracts

Wuescher LM, Takashima A, Worth RG. Platelets are Critical for Survival from Staphylococcus aureus Blood Infection in Mice. Midwest Platelet Conference 2014 (Poster presentation)
Wuescher LM, Takashima A, Worth RG. Platelets are Critical for Survival from Staphylococcus aureus Blood Infection in Mice. Midwest Microbial Pathogenesis Conference 2013 (Poster presented by RG Worth)
Wuescher L, Angevine K, Mensah-Osman EJ. Hepatic FoxO1 Acetylation is Regulated by Menin and Influenced by Insulin Signaling.听 Experimental Biology Meeting 2012 (Poster presentation)
Wuescher L, Angevine K, Mensah-Osman EJ. Insulin regulates Menin expression, localization and interaction with FOXO 1. 38^th Annual Pharmacology Research Colloquium 2011 (Oral presentation)
Palladino L, Angevine K, Patel P, Mensah-Osman E, Menin Liver Specific Hemizygous Mice Exhibit a Metabolic Syndrome Phenotype when Challenged with High Fat Diet. 37^th Annual Pharmacology Research Colloquium 2010 (Poster presentation)
Palladino L, Angevine K, Patel P, Mensah-Osman E, Menin Liver Specific Hemizygous Mice Exhibit a Metabolic Syndrome Phenotype when Challenged with High Fat Diet. First Annual Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases Student Research Forum 2010 (Oral presentation, 3^rd place award)
Palladino L, Burgess A, Vanella L, Kim DH, Sodhi K, Peterson S, Abraham NG, Mensah-Osman E. L-4F Improves Metabolic Syndrome Phenotype in HO-2 Null Mice by Decreasing NFkB Activity & Increasing Adiponectin Levels. Experimental Biology Meeting 2010 (Poster presentation)
Palladino L, Angevine K, Kim DH, Sodhi K, Inoue K, Gotlinger KH, Burgess A, Vanella L,听 Abraham NG, Mensah-Osman E. 听L-4F Rescues the Inflammatory Phenotype of HO-2 null Mice through Induction of HO-1 and Epoxyeicosatrienoic Acids (EETs) and Decreased NF-kB Activity. Winter Eicosanoid Conference 2010 (Oral presentation)
Palladino L, Angevine K, Ramakrishnan S, Bowman T, Ledford K, Najjar S, Mensah-Osman E. Menin in the Liver is a Metabolic Sensor Tightly Regulated by Insulin for its Clearance. 36^th Annual Pharmacology Research Colloquium 2009 (Poster presentation)
Angevine K, Palladino L, Ramakrishnan S, Mensah-Osman E. Menin 鈥� A central player in Metabolic and Energy Homeostasis. 36^th Annual Pharmacology Research Colloquium 2009

Skills

In vivo (mouse): Retro-orbital injection, cardiac stick, intraperitoneal injection, submandibular bleed, subcutaneous injection, tail vein injection, handling/breeding mutant mouse models, ear punch, tail snip, genotyping, retro-orbital bleeding, glucose tolerance testing, insulin tolerance testing, NMR, blood pressure measurement, tissue harvesting, serum analysis, intravital imaging
听In vivo (C. elegans): Confocal microscopy, RNA isolation, worm lysis, worm maintenance

听Human procedures: Venipuncture, platelet purification

In vitro: T cell isolation, cell culture, lentiviral infection, siRNA and plasmid transfection, western blotting, immunoprecipitation, co-immunoprecipitation, quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), polymerase chain reaction (PCR), agarose gel electrophoresis, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), flow cytometry, RNA isolation, DNA isolation, ELISA, immunocytochemistry (cell and tissue sections), maxi/mini/midiprep, luciferase, cellular fractionation, bacterial culture, PCR fusion, confocal microscopy

Research Experience

University of Toledo College of Medicine听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听Toledo, OH
Assistant Professor听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听September 2019-Present
Affiliation: Randall Worth, Ph.D.

Establishing the role of platelets in mediating mechanoresponsive changes during healing

University of Toledo College of Medicine听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听Toledo, OH
Research Associate听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听January 2017- September 2019
Supervisor: Randall Worth, Ph.D.

Investigating the role of platelets in bacterial infection and clearance

University of Toledo College of Medicine听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听Toledo, OH
Postdoctoral Fellow听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听April 2014-January 2017
Supervisor: Randall Worth, Ph.D.

Investigating the role of platelets in bacterial infection and clearance

University of Toledo听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听Toledo, OH
Postdoctoral Fellow听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听July 2013-April 2014
Supervisor: Richard Komuniecki, Ph.D.

Analyzing neuropeptide release in C. elegans ASI neurons

University of Toledo College of Medicine听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Toledo, OH
Research Associate听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听January 2013-July 2013
Supervisor: Randall Worth, Ph.D.

Analysis of a novel mouse model of chronic platelet depletion

University of Toledo College of Medicine听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Toledo, OH
Ph.D. Candidate听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听August 2008-December 2012
Supervisor: Edith Mensah-Osman M.D., Ph.D.

Researching the effects of a small peptide on the metabolic syndrome phenotype of a diabetic mouse model

Society Memberships

The American Heart Association听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听2013-2018听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听

American Association of Immunologists听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听2019-Present

- AAI Public Policy Fellow听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 2019-2020听听

The International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis听听听听听听听2020-Present

Academic Honors

3^rd Place Award for Oral Presentation听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听June 2010
First Annual Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases Student Research Forum
University of Toledo Tower Prestige Scholarship听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听2004-2007听听听

向日葵视频

Medical Microbiology and Immunology