Michael Oertel, United States

The ultimate goal of my research studies is to obtain information that will be useful to develop appropriate therapeutic strategies for specific clinical applications in the future. Our studies are aimed at identifying and modulating signaling pathways in stem cells and mature hepatocytes that drive tissue repair leading to restoration of functional hepatic mass in livers with chronic liver diseases in preclinical models recapitulating human disorders. Results from our studies will provide critical understanding of the basic requirements and mechanisms that will serve as a guide for effective liver repopulation in patients of all ages, information that is urgently needed. I started my education at the College of Education in Muehlhausen and continued at the University of Leipzig in Germany, where I received my Diploma in Biology in 1995. During my PhD studies in the Dept. of Medicine, Division of Hepatology, I conducted thesis research on the role of HLA class-I restricted natural killer (NK) cells and T cells in acute allograft rejection after human liver transplantation and obtained my PhD in 2000. In 2001, I moved to New York and started as Research Associate in the laboratory of Dr. David Shafritz at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, specifically performing research to study liver stem cell transplantation and gene therapy. During these years, I gained extensive knowledge and expertise in cell culture and immunological techniques, isolation, purification and cryopreservation of different cell populations, characterization of these cells using immunohistochemical and molecular methods, virus transduction and cell transplantation protocols. Moreover, I gained broad knowledge and expertise in laser capture microscopy (LCM). In 2012, I moved to Pittsburgh and established my independent research program in the Dept. of Pathology. In 2024, my position was transferred to the Organ Pathobiology and Therapeutics Institute (OPTIn), Dept. of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, in the School of Medicine. I am also faculty member of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine and member of the Pittsburgh Liver Research Center (PLRC). My work in liver-related research has led to highly significant peer-reviewed publications in journals in the transplantation and hepatology field (e.g., Transplantation, Stem Cells, Hepatology, Hepatology Communications, Journal of Hepatology, Gastroenterology, Cells).