Pathology at Johns Hopkins
The Department of Pathology at Johns Hopkins is preeminent nationally and globally in the study and treatment of human disease and in professional training in all areas of pathology and laboratory science. Currently, there are over 1400 people in the department, which includes approximately 120 full-time faculty, 36 residents, 45 graduate students, over 100 fellows, and 1000 staff members.
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Publications Spotlighted
Johns Hopkins Pathology Takes Center Stage:
Johns Hopkins Pathology has been the number one NIH funded pathology department for 11 of the past 12 years.
Our research interests span a broad area— we highlighted a few research discoveries.
- The Gut-Brain Connection
- Engineering for Cancer Immunotherapy
- It's all in the Presentation: Coagulation Spotlighted
- New Insights: Sidestepping Pitfalls for Benign Pelvic Tumors
The Gut-Brain Connection
About one third of people with schizophrenia have elevated IgG antibodies to gliadin (AGA IgG). We examined mimicry to the glutamate receptor as possible mechanisms related to high gliadin antibodies. The Glutamate Ionotropic Receptor NMDA type Subunit Associated with protein 1 (GRINA), which has a similar protein structure to gliadin representing a potential target for cross reactivity or mimicry. We found that schizophrenia patients had higher GRINA IgG than healthy controls. Logistic regressions showed an association between AGA IgG and GRINA IgG in schizophrenia but not for the controls. Thus, we propose that mimicry through the presence of cross-reactivity between gliadin and GRINA might disrupt the functions of the glutamate system and relate to illness pathophysiology in those with schizophrenia and elevated AGA IgG.
Engineering for Cancer Immunotherapy
Scientists led by Dr. Jonathan Schneck from Johns Hopkins Pathology report the creation of a specialized gel that acts like a lymph node to successfully activate and multiply cancer-fighting immune system T-cells. Patients' T cells are increasingly used for cancer treatments but require ex vivo stimulation. In this study, published in Advanced Materials, Dr. Schneck and colleagues found that the gel's material properties were critical to the T cells' therapeutic efficacy-the stiffness, stimulatory proteins, and composition impacted the therapeutic outcomes in a mouse model of melanoma. The work puts scientists a step closer, they say, to injecting such artificial lymph nodes for sparking T-cells to fight disease.
It's all in the Presentation: Coagulation Spotlighted
New Insights: Sidestepping Pitfalls for Benign Pelvic Tumors
Chondromyxoid fibroma (CMF) is a relatively uncommon benign bone tumor of cartilaginous differentiation. The primary pitfall in the histopathologic diagnosis of CMF is confusion with a high-grade chondrosarcoma. This is particularly challenging in the pelvis, where clinical suspicion for chondrosarcoma is high. Postdoctoral fellow in the James lab, Takashi Sono, used JHU case files to examine our institutional experience with this clinical scenario. Their findings, reported in the International Journal of Surgical Pathology, included that CMF of pelvis occurred in older individuals, grew to larger sizes, and showed a higher rate of soft tissue extension, dystrophic calcification and necrosis as compared to nonpelvic CMF. Recognizing these unusual features of pelvic CMF allows for avoiding a diagnostic pitfall in bone pathology.
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Passing of Dr. David Page
November 1, 2019It is with sadness that we learned of the passing of our long-time friend and colleague Dr. David Page. David graduated from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and in 1971 served as our Chief Resident in Pathology. In 1973 he joined the faculty at Vanderbilt Medical Center. David made a number of seminal contributions to the field of breast pathology. Over the years, members of our faculty often relied on David for his expert consultation on difficult breast pathology cases. He was also a gifted teacher and a much loved friend of our department. He will be missed.
2019 Nobel Prize Winner!
October 7, 2019
Congratulations to Dr. Gregg Semenza- one of the winners of the 2019 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine! Gregg is on the faculty here at Johns Hopkins, and he was awarded the prize for his discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to changes in oxygen concentrations. This is important for pancreas tumors, because it turns out that one of the tumors that arises in the pancreas, serous cystadenoma, is caused by a mutation in the VHL gene, and VHL is one of the genes that Gregg has shown is important in sensing and responding to changes in cellular oxygen levels. Congratulations Gregg!
Pathology Trailblazers
October 3, 2019
Congratulations to our faculty Drs. Elizabeth Montgomery, Jonathan Epstein and Paul van Diest (Adjunct Professor), who are featured in the September 2019 issue of the Pathologist honoring 100 inspirational and influential trailblazers in the profession! This group was selected after months of collating reader nominations and judging by an expert panel. To see the full list, go to https://thepathologist.com/power-list/2019.
