Medical Microbiology and Immunology

Leah Marie Wuescher, Ph.D.

 

Leah
Assistant Professor - Research Track
Affiliation: Randall G. Worth, Ph.D.
College of Medicine and Life Sciences
Department of Medical Microbiology& Immunology
Lab Phone: 419-383-3906
Email:Leah.Wuescher@utoledo.edu

CV

Education                                                                                

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


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

 

 Publications

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.  Experimental Biology Meeting 2012 (Poster presentation)
  • Wuescher L, Angevine K, Mensah-Osman EJ. Insulin regulates Menin expression, localization and interaction with FOXO 1. 38th 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. 37th 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, 3rd 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,  Abraham NG, Mensah-Osman E.  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. 36th Annual Pharmacology Research Colloquium 2009 (Poster presentation)
  • Angevine K, Palladino L, Ramakrishnan S, Mensah-Osman E. Menin – A central player in Metabolic and Energy Homeostasis. 36th 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
  •  In vivo (C. elegans): Confocal microscopy, RNA isolation, worm lysis, worm maintenance

 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                                                  Toledo, OH
Assistant Professor                                                                                      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                                                  Toledo, OH
Research Associate                                                                                 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                                                  Toledo, OH
Postdoctoral Fellow                                                                                    April 2014-January 2017
Supervisor: Randall Worth, Ph.D.

Investigating the role of platelets in bacterial infection and clearance

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

Analyzing neuropeptide release in C. elegans ASI neurons

University of Toledo College of Medicine                                                   Toledo, OH
Research Associate                                                                                      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                                                   Toledo, OH
Ph.D. Candidate                                                                                        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                                                                       2013-2018                  

American Association of Immunologists                                                      2019-Present

    • AAI Public Policy Fellow                                                                                      2019-2020   

The International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis             2020-Present

 

Academic Honors

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

Last Updated: 6/27/22