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Draft:Julia TCW

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Julia TCW
Julia TCW, neuroscientist and stem cell biologist at Boston University
Alma materCatholic University of Korea (BS)
Harvard University (AM, PhD)
Known forHuman induced pluripotent stem cell models of Alzheimer's disease; APOE4 effects on glia
AwardsNYSCF–Druckenmiller Fellowship; BrightFocus Foundation Award; Carol and Gene Ludwig Award for Neurodegeneration Research
Scientific career
FieldsNeuroscience, stem cell biology, functional genomics
InstitutionsBoston University

Julia TCW is a geneticist, neuroscientist and stem cell biologist. She is the director of the Laboratory of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapeutics and an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology & Biophysics at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and holds an appointment in the Bioinformatics Program in the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences at Boston University.[1] Her research applies human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) with CRISPR/Cas9 genome-editing and multiomics computational methods to the genetics and genomics of Alzheimer's disease. She is known particularly for studies of how the apolipoprotein E ε4 (APOE4) risk variant affects glial cells in the human brain and Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis.[1]

Education

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TCW received a Bachelor of Science from the Catholic University of Korea in 2006, in a joint program with California State University, Fresno.[1] She earned an A.M. (2010) and a Ph.D. (2013) in molecular and cellular biology from Harvard University, where she conducted doctoral research in stem cell and regenerative biology on induced pluripotent stem cell reprogramming.[1] As a first author she developed a method for oncogene-independent generation of iPS cells, published in Nature Chemical Biology in 2014.[2] From 2015 to 2018 she was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where she was awarded a Druckenmiller Fellowship from the New York Stem Cell Foundation.[1] She is a pioneer in developing iPSC-derived human brain models to study Alzheimer's disease genetics and functional genomics. She held a faculty position at Mount Sinai from 2019 to 2021 before joining Boston University in 2021.[1]

Career and research

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TCW directs the Laboratory of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapeutics at Boston University.[1] Her laboratory develops protocols to derive central nervous system cell types, including astrocytes, microglia, pericytes, endothelial cells, neural progenitors, glial progenitor cells, glutamatergic neurons, and mixed cortical cultures, from human iPSCs,[3][4][5] and combines CRISPR/Cas9 genome-editing with functional-genomic and computational analysis to study Alzheimer's disease genetic risk.[6] In 2017, as a postdoctoral researcher, she was first author of a widely used protocol for differentiating astrocytes from human iPSCs, published in Stem Cell Reports, following the validation of human iPSC-astrocytes in vivo in a xenotransplantation model, showing the first human astrocytes in live Alzheimer's animals.[4][7]

TCW has established human brain cell models including homogeneous pure cell types and mixed cortical cultures in two-dimensional cultures and three-dimensional organoids and has used them to model brain disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and for drug discovery, including a small-molecule screen against Zika virus.[8][9][10][11] To address a limitation of human glial cultures, her group has xenografted hiPSC-derived glial progenitors into Alzheimer's mouse brains to study human cell responses to amyloid plaques.[7]

In 2022, TCW was the lead and corresponding author of a study in Cell reporting that APOE4 dysregulates cholesterol homeostasis and matrisome pathways in human astrocytes and microglia, an effect observed in human but not mouse glia, increasing risk to develop to Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis.[6] The work was highlighted in Nature Aging[12] and by the Alzheimer's-research outlet Alzforum,[13] and was reported by Boston television news outlets including WCVB and Boston 25.[14][15] She co-leads the FunGen-xQTL functional genomics study in the National Institute on Aging's Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project and has been principal investigator on multiple National Institutes of Health R01 grants.[1][16] In 2025, she was named to lead a spoke project in the SuperAging Biohub at Northwestern University, an initiative seed-funded by the Karen Toffler Charitable Trust.[17][18] Her laboratory also leads a lipid-metabolism study funded by the Carol and Gene Ludwig Foundation and a drug-discovery program funded by the Edward N. and Della L. Thome Memorial Foundation.[19]

As of 2026, her published work had been cited approximately 7,309 times, with an h-index of 28 and an i10-index of 37 according to Google Scholar.[20]

Editorial roles and service

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TCW is an associate editor of Molecular Neurodegeneration Advances and an editorial board member of Molecular Neurodegeneration and has served as a review editor for Frontiers in Neuroscience. She is a standing member of National Institutes of Health study sections reviewing neurodegeneration research.[1]

Awards and honors

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Druckenmiller Fellowship, New York Stem Cell Foundation[1] BrightFocus Foundation Alzheimer's Disease Research Award (2022)[21] Toffler Scholar, Karen Toffler Charitable Trust (2022 and 2025)[18] Carol and Gene Ludwig Award for Neurodegeneration Research[19] Edward N. and Della L. Thome Memorial Foundation Award[19] K, R, and U awards from the National Institute on Aging[1]

Selected publications

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TCW, Julia; et al. (2021). "Human iPSC-derived astrocytes transplanted into the mouse brain display three morphological responses to amyloid-β plaques". Molecular Neurodegeneration. 16 (1): 68. doi:10.1186/s13024-021-00487-8. PMC 8467145. PMID 34563212. TCW, Julia; et al. (2022). "Cholesterol and matrisome pathways dysregulated in astrocytes and microglia". Cell. 185 (13): 2213–2233.e25. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2022.05.017. PMC 9340815. PMID 35750033. TCW, Julia; et al. (2017). "An Efficient Platform for Astrocyte Differentiation from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells". Stem Cell Reports. 9 (2): 600–614. doi:10.1016/j.stemcr.2017.06.018. PMC 5550034. PMID 28757165. TCW, Julia; et al. (2014). "Notch inhibition allows oncogene-independent generation of iPS cells". Nature Chemical Biology. 10 (8): 632–639. doi:10.1038/nchembio.1552. PMC 4310751. PMID 24952596.

Selected reviews

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TCW, Julia; Negi, R; Kurkela, M (2026). "The role of APOE genetics in glial lipid metabolism and inflammation". Apolipoprotein e (Nature): 821–852. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-96089-5_74. ISBN 978-3-031-96088-8. TCW, Julia; Arranz, A (2023). "Next-generation hiPSC-based models to decipher the contribution of human astrocytes to Alzheimer's disease and potential targeting therapeutics". Molecular Neurodegeneration. 18 (1): 19. doi:10.1186/s13024-023-00612-9. PMC 10039591. PMID 36966344. TCW, Julia (2019). "Human iPSC application in Alzheimer's disease and Tau-related neurodegenerative diseases". Neuroscience Letters. 699: 31–40. doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2019.01.043. PMC 12872380. PMID 30685408.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Julia TCW". Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. Retrieved 18 June 2026.
  2. ^ TCW, Julia; et al. (2014). "Notch inhibition allows oncogene-independent generation of iPS cells". Nature Chemical Biology. 10 (8): 632–639. doi:10.1038/nchembio.1552. PMC 4310751. PMID 24952596.
  3. ^ Qian, L; Rosa, J; TCW, Julia (2026). "Protocol for morphogen-guided differentiation of brain cell types using human induced pluripotent stem cells". STAR Protocols. 7 (1) 104339. doi:10.1016/j.xpro.2025.104339. PMC 12856185. PMID 41548215.
  4. ^ a b TCW, Julia; et al. (2017). "An Efficient Platform for Astrocyte Differentiation from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells". Stem Cell Reports. 9 (2): 600–614. doi:10.1016/j.stemcr.2017.06.018. PMC 5550034. PMID 28757165.
  5. ^ Ho, SM; Hartley, J; TCW, Julia; et al. (2016). "Rapid Ngn2-induction of excitatory neurons from hiPSC-derived neural progenitor cells". Methods. 101: 113–124. doi:10.1016/j.ymeth.2015.11.019. PMC 4860098. PMID 26626326.
  6. ^ a b TCW, Julia; et al. (2022). "Cholesterol and matrisome pathways dysregulated in astrocytes and microglia". Cell. 185 (13): 2213–2233.e25. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2022.05.017. PMC 9340815. PMID 35750033.
  7. ^ a b TCW, Julia; et al. (2021). "Human iPSC-derived astrocytes transplanted into the mouse brain display three morphological responses to amyloid-β plaques". Molecular Neurodegeneration. 16 (1): 68. doi:10.1186/s13024-021-00487-8. PMC 8467145. PMID 34563212.
  8. ^ TCW, Julia; et al. (2017). "Divergent levels of marker chromosomes in an hiPSC-based model of psychosis". Stem Cell Reports. 8 (3): 519–528. doi:10.1016/j.stemcr.2017.01.010. PMC 5355568. PMID 28216146.
  9. ^ Xu, M; et al. (2016). "Identification of small-molecule inhibitors of Zika virus infection and induced neural cell death via a drug repurposing screen". Nature Medicine. 22 (10): 1101–1107. doi:10.1038/nm.4184. PMC 5386783. PMID 27571349.
  10. ^ Hur, JY; et al. (2020). "The innate immunity protein IFITM3 modulates γ-secretase in Alzheimer's disease". Nature. 586 (7831): 735–740. Bibcode:2020Natur.586..735H. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2681-2. PMC 7919141. PMID 32879487.
  11. ^ Montagne, A; et al. (2020). "APOE4 leads to early blood-brain barrier dysfunction predicting human cognitive decline". Nature. 581 (7806): 71–76. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2247-3. PMC 7250000. PMID 32376954.
  12. ^ Kriebs, Anna (2022). "APOE4 dysregulates cholesterol homeostasis in human microglia and astrocytes". Nature Aging. 2 (7): 565–566. doi:10.1038/s43587-022-00256-2.
  13. ^ "ApoE4 Glia Bungle Lipid Processing, Mess with the Matrisome". Alzforum. Retrieved 18 June 2026.
  14. ^ "Researchers in Boston unravel gene most responsible for Alzheimer's disease". WCVB. 23 June 2022.
  15. ^ "Alzheimer's research suggests a way to stop the disease early". Boston 25 News. 23 June 2022.
  16. ^ "Julia TCW, PhD, Receives $3.9 Million NIH Award for Alzheimer's Research". Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. 11 September 2023. Retrieved 18 June 2026.
  17. ^ "Karen Toffler Charitable Trust Provides Seed Funding for Creation of Northwestern University's SuperAging Biohub" (Press release). Karen Toffler Charitable Trust. 2025 – via PR Newswire.
  18. ^ a b "Julia TCW". Karen Toffler Charitable Trust. Retrieved 2 July 2026.
  19. ^ a b c "Julia TCW, PhD, Receives Awards for Alzheimer's Research". Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. 2024. Retrieved 18 June 2026.
  20. ^ "Julia TCW". Google Scholar. Retrieved 2 July 2026.
  21. ^ "Julia TCW, PhD, Receives BrightFocus Award". Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. 14 October 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2026.
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TCW Laboratory at Boston University Does APOE4 Prematurely Age Astrocytes? Alzforum Research Renaissance podcast (Karen Toffler Charitable Trust), featuring Julia TCW Julia TCW interview series – Video Journal of Dementia

Category:Living people Category:American neuroscientists Category:American women neuroscientists Category:Harvard University alumni Category:Boston University faculty Category:Alzheimer's disease researchers Category:American women academics

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