Christiana Ruhrberg

Christiana Ruhrberg
Scientific career
Institutions	University College London
Thesis	Envoplakin and periplakin, novel components of the cornified envelope and desmosomes. (1997)

Christiana Ruhrberg is a German-British cell biologist who is Professor of Neuronal and Vascular Biology. University College London[1] She investigates how cells interact during the development of mammals and examines how similar interactions influence the repair and regeneration of adult organs.

Early life and education

Ruhrberg was an undergraduate student at the Justus-Liebig-Universitaet, where she majored in biology.[2] She was a Master's student at the University of Sussex, where she investigated genetic changes in ovarian cancer.[2] Ruhrberg moved to the Imperial Cancer Research Fund to define the genomic organisation in the human surfeit locus.[2] Ruhrberg was a doctoral researcher at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, where she worked under the supervision of Fiona Watt.[3][4] In 1986, the British Society for Cell Biology named her Young Cell Biologist of the Year. She received her PhD from Imperial College London in 1997. Ruhrberg was a postdoctoral researcher at the National Institute for Health Research, where she worked under the supervision of Robb Krumlauf to study the development of cranial motor neurons.[5] She returned to the Imperial Cancer Research Fund to work in the laboratory of David Shima, where she investigated molecular mechanisms that underpin the growth of blood vessels.[6]

Research and career

Ruhrberg moved to University College London in 2003, and was promoted to Professor of Neuronal and Vascular Development at UCL in 2011.[2][7] Here, she has combined her training in neuronal and vascular development to help establish the field of neurovascular co-patterning.[8][9] She also studies how blood vessels grow in the brain and retina (see selected references).

Awards and honours

• 2003 Werner-Risau-Prize[10]
• 2003 Medical Research Council Career Development Award
• 2018 British Society for Developmental Biology Cheryll Tickle Medal[11]
• 2018 North American Vascular Biology Organization Judah Folkman Award in Vascular Biology[2]

Selected publications

• Holger Gerhardt; Holger Gerhardt; Matthew Golding; et al. (16 June 2003). "VEGF guides angiogenic sprouting utilizing endothelial tip cell filopodia". Journal of Cell Biology. 161 (6): 1163–1177. doi:10.1083/JCB.200302047. ISSN 0021-9525. PMC 2172999. PMID 12810700. Wikidata Q29617501.
• Christiana Ruhrberg; Holger Gerhardt; Holger Gerhardt; et al. (1 October 2002). "Spatially restricted patterning cues provided by heparin-binding VEGF-A control blood vessel branching morphogenesis". Genes & Development. 16 (20): 2684–2698. doi:10.1101/GAD.242002. ISSN 0890-9369. PMC 187458. PMID 12381667. Wikidata Q35804497.
• Alessandro Fantin; Joaquim M Vieira; Gaia Gestri; et al. (19 April 2010). "Tissue macrophages act as cellular chaperones for vascular anastomosis downstream of VEGF-mediated endothelial tip cell induction". Blood. 116 (5): 829–840. doi:10.1182/BLOOD-2009-12-257832. ISSN 0006-4971. PMC 2938310. PMID 20404134. Wikidata Q30496577.

References

1. "UCL Researcher Profile". 4 October 2024.
2. "Professor Christiana Ruhrberg wins Judah Folkman Award: vision-research.eu – The Gateway to European Vision Research". www.vision-research.eu. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
3. Ruhrberg, Christiana; Hajibagheri, M.A. Nasser; Parry, David A.D.; Watt, Fiona M. (1997). "Periplakin, a novel component of cornified envelopes and desmosomes that belongs to the plakin family and forms complexes with envoplakin". Journal of Cell Biology. 139 (7): 1835–1849. doi:10.1083/jcb.139.7.1835.
4. Ruhrberg, C.; Hajibagheri, M. A.; Simon, M.; Dooley, T. P.; Watt, F. M. (1996). "Envoplakin, a novel precursor of the cornified envelope that has homology to desmoplakin". Journal of Cell Biology. 134 (3): 715–729. doi:10.1083/jcb.134.3.715. PMC 2120946. PMID 8707850.
5. Gavalas, Anthony; Ruhrberg, Christiana; Livet, Jean; Henderson, Christopher E.; Krumlauf, Robb (2003). "Neuronal defects in the hindbrain of Hoxa1, Hoxb1 and Hoxb2 mutants reflect regulatory interactions among these Hox genes". Development. 130 (23): 5663–5679. doi:10.1242/dev.00802.
6. Lebrasseur, Nicole (2002). "Branching out requires VEGF". The Journal of Cell Biology. 159 (2): 201. doi:10.1083/jcb1592rr1. PMC 2246537.
7. "UCL Profiles". ucl.ac.uk.
8. Erskine, Lynda; Reijntjes, Susan; Pratt, Thomas; Denti, Laura; Schwarz, Quenten; Vieira, Joaquim M.; Alakakone, Bennett; Shewan, Derryck; Ruhrberg, Christiana (2011). "VEGF signaling through neuropilin 1 guides commissural axon crossing at the optic chiasm". Neuron. 70 (5): 951–965. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2011.02.052. hdl:20.500.11820/637f6a4e-2a31-49ab-bfe2-fb2888f3be5b.
9. Schwarz, Quenten; Gu, Chenghua; Fujisawa, Hajime; Sabelko, Kimberly; Gertsenstein, Marina; Nagy, Andras; Taniguchi, Masahiko; Kolodkin, Alex L.; Ginty, David D.; Shima, David T.; Ruhrberg, Christiana (2004). "Vascular endothelial growth factor controls neuronal migration and cooperates with Sema3A to pattern distinct compartments of the facial nerve". Genes & Development. 18 (22): 2822–2834. doi:10.1101/gad.322904. PMC 528901.
10. "Laureats". The Werner-Risau-Prize. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
11. "The Cheryll Tickle Medal". BSDB – British Society for Developmental Biology. Retrieved 28 May 2021.