Alexandra Zezulin, MD, PhD

Alexandra Zezulin

Undergraduate School
Haverford College

Graduate School
University of Pennsylvania

Medical School
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
 

Interests & Career Goals

Physician-scientist track, child and adolescent psychiatry, adverse childhood exposures, inflammation, and epigenetic dysregulation

Favorite Pastimes

I enjoy being outside, visiting national parks, playing pickleball, and spending time with my husband and family.

Strengths of the Program

I was drawn to the program because of its warm and kind people, beautiful training sites and surrounding area, supportive program leadership, and collaborative research environment.

Areas of Prior Research

Investigated the role of the transcription factor RUNX1 in regulating inflammatory responses in hematopoietic cells; Evaluated the association between asthma and suicide attempts in early and late adolescence

Publications/Abstracts

  • Zezulin, A. U., Yen, D., Ye, D., Howell, E. D., Bresciani, E., Diemer, J., Ren, J. G., Ahmad, M. H., Castilla, L. H., Touw, I. P., Minn, A. J., Tong, W., Liu, P. P., Tan, K., Yu, W., & Speck, N. A. (2023). RUNX1 is required in granulocyte- monocyte progenitors to attenuate inflammatory cytokine production by neutrophils. Genes and Development, 37(13–14), 605–620. https://doi.org/10.1101/gad.350418.123
     
  • Pires Lourenco, S., Jarocha, D., Ghiaccio, V., Guerra, A., Abdulmalik, O., La, P., Zezulin, A., Smith-Whitley, K., Kwiatkowski, J. L., Guzikowski, V., Nakamura, Y., Raabe, T., Breda, L., & Rivella, S. (2021). Inclusion of a short hairpin RNA targeting BCL11A into a β-globin expressing vector allows concurrent synthesis of curative adult and fetal hemoglobin. Haematologica, 106(10), 2740–2745. https://doi.org/10.3324/haematol.2020.276634
     
  • McDougald, D. S., Papp, T. E., Zezulin, A. U., Zhou, S., & Bennett, J. (2019). AKT3 Gene Transfer Promotes Anabolic Reprogramming and Photoreceptor Neuroprotection in a Pre-clinical Model of Retinitis Pigmentosa. Molecular Therapy, 27(7), 1313–1326. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymthe.2019.04.009
     
  • Zezulin, A., & Musunuru, K. (2018). Turning up the Heat with Therapeutic Epigenome Editing. In Cell Stem Cell (Vol. 22, Issue 1, pp. 10–11). Cell Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2017.12.013
     
  • McDougald, D. S., Dine, K. E., Zezulin, A. U., Bennett, J., & Shindler, K. S. (2018). SIRT1 and NRF2 gene transfer mediate distinct neuroprotective effects upon retinal ganglion cell survival and function in experimental optic neuritis. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 59(3), 1212–1220. https://doi.org/10.1167/iovs.17-22972

Poster Presentations

  • Zezulin, A. U., Yu, W., Ye, D., Ren, J. G., Howell, E. D., Bellissimo, D., Touw, I. P., Minn, A. J., Tong, W., Tan, K., & Speck, N. A. (2022, October 19). RUNX1 attenuates toll-like receptor and type I interferon signaling in neutrophils. RUNX1 Scientific Conference, Princeton, NJ, United States.
     
  • Zezulin, A. U., Howell, E. D., Yu, W., Ren, J. G., Tong, W., Tan, K., & Speck, N. A. (2022, September 2). Determining the mechanism by which RUNX1 loss leads to an inflammatory response in hematopoietic cells. International Society for Experimental Hematology (ISEH), Edinburgh, United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland.
     
  • Zezulin, A. U., Ren, J. G., Ye, D., Howell, E. D., Bellissimo, D., Touw, I. P., Minn, A. J., Tong, W., Tan, K., Yu, W., & Speck, N. A. (2022, August 5). RUNX1 attenuates toll-like receptor and type I interferon signaling in neutrophils. MSTP Villanova Departmental Retreat, Villanova, PA, United States.
     
  • Zezulin, A. U., Yen, D., Ye, D., Howell, E. D., Ren, J. G., Touw, I. P., Minn, A. J., Tong, W., Tan, K., Yu, W., & Speck, N. A. (2022, May 12). Determining the mechanism by which RUNX1 loss leads to an inflammatory response in hematopoietic cells. Cell & Developmental Biology Departmental Retreat, Galloway, NJ, United States.
     
  • Zezulin, A. U., McDougald, D., & Bennett, J. (2017, April 23). Adeno associated virus-mediated expression of NRF2 in a mouse model of optic neuritis confers neuroprotection. Undergraduate Science Research Symposium, Haverford, PA, United States.
     
  • Zezulin, A. U., McDougald, D., & Bennett, J. (2015, August 19). Constitutive activation of mTORC1 via AAV-mediated expression of Rheb in mouse models of retinitis pigmentosa. Haverford College Science Research Symposium, Haverford, PA, United States.