University of Alabama, Birmingham
Birmingham, United States
Anita Hjelmeland, Ph.D. is Associate Professor in the Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Hjelmeland received her PhD from Duke University in Pharmacology and Cancer Biology and subsequently completed a post-doctoral fellowship in neuroonocology followed by a non-tenure track faculty position at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. Since initiating her laboratory at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2013, she has sought to increase brain tumor education programs and define the similarities and differences in molecular mechanisms of stem cell maintenance between neural stem cells and brain tumor initiating cells (BTICs): she believes this is key to developing a better understanding of neurodevelopment as well as brain tumor initiation and progression. She is the Basic Science Co-Leader of the Neuro-oncology Program of the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center and Co-Director of the Glial Biology Pillar of the Comprehensive Neuroscience Center. Key reports from her research group have determined the ability of small molecule inhibitors targeting the tumor microenvironment and metabolism to reduce glioma growth. They also elucidated the role of a biosynthetic metabolic pathway regulating reactive oxygen and nitrogen species production in GBM. Recent efforts explore the role of sialylation in GBM. Overall, her laboratory is highly dedicated to translational glioblastoma research and training the next generation of biomedical researchers.