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Maria Lehtinen, Ph.D.

Professor, Harvard Medical School, Department of Pathology, Boston Children’s Hospital

Dr. Maria Lehtinen is a professor at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Pathology at Boston Children’s Hospital. Her research focuses on the mechanisms by which the choroid plexus, an important brain barrier and producer of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), contributes to brain development and lifelong brain health.

Dr. Lehtinen received her Ph.D. in Neurobiology from Harvard University where she trained with Dr. Azad Bonni on molecular mechanisms regulating neuronal survival and death. She joined Anna-Elina Lehesjoki’s lab for her early postdoctoral work at the University of Helsinki, where she investigated the role of redox homeostasis in progressive myoclonus epilepsy. Lehtinen carried out further postdoctoral training with Christopher A. Walsh at Harvard, where they found that secreted factors in the CSF play active roles in instructing the development and health of the mammalian cerebral cortex. Dr. Lehtinen established her own laboratory at Boston Children’s Hospital in 2012, where she takes an interdisciplinary approach focused on basic and translational research related to choroid plexus-CSF-based signaling in the brain, with applications ranging from neurodevelopmental to age-associated neurologic diseases including Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Lehtinen currently holds the Hannah C. Kinney, MD, Chair in Pediatric Pathology Research. She is the recipient of several young investigator awards including a New York Stem Cell Foundation – Robertson Stem Cell Investigator, H.W. Mossman Award in Developmental Biology from the American Association of Anatomists, and a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).

www.childrenshospital.org/research/labs/lehtinen-laboratory

Twitter: @LehtinenLab

 

 

Related Research:

Brain Entry and Exit Consortium: Neuroinflammation at the Choroid Plexus in Alzheimer’s Disease Maria Lehtinen 2024-05-02 Neuroinflammation at the Choroid Plexus in Alzheimer’s Disease Maria Lehtinen Liisa Myllykangas 2023-12-21 Neuroinflammation Contributions to Alzheimer’s Disease: Role of the Choroid Plexus Maria Lehtinen Liisa Myllykangas 2022-02-15

Funded Research

These projects were made possible from Cure Alzheimer's Fund support.

Project Description Researchers Funding
Brain Entry and Exit Consortium: Neuroinflammation at the Choroid Plexus in Alzheimer’s Disease 2024

$86,250
Neuroinflammation at the Choroid Plexus in Alzheimer’s Disease 2023

$201,250
Neuroinflammation Contributions to Alzheimer’s Disease: Role of the Choroid Plexus 2021, 2022

$443,000

Selected Publications

These published papers resulted from Cure Alzheimer’s Fund support.

Xu, H., Hehnly, C., & Lehtinen, M. K. The choroid plexus: a command center for brain–body communication during inflammation, Current Opinion in Immunology, February 27, 2025, Read More

Byer, L. I. J., Xu, H., & Lehtinen, M. K. Protocol for the dissection, immunostaining, and imaging of whole-mount mouse choroid plexus, STAR Protocols, February 27, 2025, Read More

Courtney, Y., Hochstetler, A., & Lehtinen, M. K. Choroid Plexus Pathophysiology, Annual Review of Pathology, January 2, 2025, Read More

Xu, H., Lotfy, P., Gelb, S., Pragana, A., Hehnly, C., Byer, L. I. J., Shipley, F. B., Zawadzki, M. E., Cui, J., Deng, L., Taylor, M., Webb, M., Lidov, H. G. W., Andermann, M. L., Chiu, I. M., Ordovas-Montanes, J., & Lehtinen, M. K. The choroid plexus synergizes with immune cells during neuroinflammation, Cell, July 31, 2024, Read More

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