Bilal Ersen Kerman
Bilal Ersen Kerman graduated from Bilkent University Molecular Biology and Genetics Department in 2001. He received his PhD in 2008 from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the laboratory of Deborah J. Andrew. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Fred H. Gage at the Salk Institute until 2015. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor at the Histology and Embryology Department of Istanbul Medipol University School of MedicineDr. Kerman’s research interests lie in understanding how the myelin, a fatty substance that surrounds the axons (extensions of neurons) forms and the mechanisms of the related diseases. To that purpose, he developed an in vitro stem cell based myelin formation assay and a semi-automated myelin quantification method: Computer-assisted Evaluation of Myelin formation (CEM). Goals of the Kerman lab include dissecting underlying mechanisms of axon and oligodendrocyte interactions during myelination; modeling demyelination and dysmyelination diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease (PMD) using mouse stem cells and human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and refining or discovering therapies for such leukodystrophies.
Selected Publications;
In Vitro Myelin Formation Using Embryonic Stem Cells.
Kerman, BE., Kim HJ., Padmanabhan, K., Mei, A., Georges, S., Joens, MS., Fitzpatrick, JAJ., Japelli, R., Chandross, K., August, P., and Gage, FH. (2015) In Vitro Myelin Formation Using Embryonic Stem Cells. Development 142(12):2213-25.
Mutant Huntingtin Promotes Cell-Autonomous Microglia Activation Via Myeloid Lineage-Determining Factors.
Crotti, A., Benner, C., Kerman, BE., Gosselin, G., Lagier-Tourenne, C., Zuccato, C., Cattaneo, E., Gage, F.H., Cleveland, DW, Glass, CK. (2014) Mutant Huntingtin Promotes Cell-Autonomous Microglia Activation Via Myeloid Lineage-Determining Factors PU.1 and C/EBP. Nat Neurosci. 17(4):513-21.
A Regenerative Approach to the Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis.
Deshmukh, VA, Tardif, V, Lyssiotis, CA, Green, CC, Kerman, B, Kim, HJ, Padmanabhan, K, Swoboda, JG, Ahmad, I, Kondo, T, Gage, FH, Theofilopoulos, AN, Lawson, BR, Schultz, PG, Lairson, LL. (2013) A Regenerative Approach to the Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis. Nature. 502(7471):327-32.