Brigstock Lab Staff

David R. Brigstock, PhD
Principal Investigator
David.Brigstock@NationwideChildrens.org

David Brigstock, PhD, received his doctorate degree from Cambridge University and conducted his postdoctoral studies at Harvard Medical School  and Children’s Hospital, Boston. He was recruited to Nationwide Children’s and The Ohio State University in 1991, where he has maintained an active lab funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since. Dr. Brigstock’s junior and mid faculty career focused on the biochemistry and biology of cell communication network factor 2 (CCN2; connective tissue growth factor (CTGF)), including its role as pro-fibrotic factor in the liver.

Currently a professor of Surgery at OSU, Dr. Brigstock has a major interest in how EVs contribute to fibrosis during chronic liver injury. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, a fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and a standing member of the AA-1 Biomedical Research study section at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. 

Sherri Kemper
Research Associate
Sherri.Kemper@NationwideChildrens.org

Sherri Kemper graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. She joined Dr. Brigstock’s lab, where she is currently a research associate, in 1998. Sherri’s main lab duties include ordering supplies, maintaining transgenic mouse colonies and undertaking critical cell and molecular biology experiments. Her research was initially focused on the role of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) in liver fibrosis. More recently, it has involved the study of extracellular vesicles (EVs) in inflammatory or fibrosing liver injury. Sherri is responsible for mass-scale cell culture and isolation and characterization of various populations of EVs from several liver cell types.

Xinlei Li, PhD
Research Scientist
Xinlei.Li@NationwideChildrens.org

Xinlei Li, PhD, is a research scientist in Dr. Brigstock’s lab. Dr. Li earned his doctorate degree in biochemistry and molecular biology at University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. His doctorate thesis and post-doctoral studies focused on molecular virology and virus-host interactions of hepatotropic viruses. Since joining Dr. Brigstock’s group in 2018, Dr. Li has led studies of the role of EVs in mediating communication between parenchymal and non-parenchymal cells of the liver. This work is important for understanding the pathogenesis of inflammatory such as alcoholic liver disease and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and has also resulted in novel EV-based therapeutic approaches for hepatic fibrosis.

Guanqi Zhao, PhD
Postdoctoral Scientist

Guanqi Zhao joined Dr. Brigstock’s lab as a postdoctoral scientist in August 2025. He earned his doctoral degree in microbiology and cell science from University of Florida. His doctoral research was centered on host pathogen interaction and immunology, with a particular focus on how commensal bacteria–derived extracellular vesicles (bEVs) modulate host immune responses during norovirus infection. His current role in Dr. Brigstock’s lab involves designing and establishing an ethanol-inducible system to track hepatocyte-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) in liver organoids and further elucidating the therapeutic mechanisms of hepatocyte EVs in various liver cell targets.