Kerlin Lab
The Kerlin Lab aims to discover new approaches to prevent and treat thrombosis. Thrombosis is an emerging crisis in pediatrics that now complicates over 1% of all pediatric hospitalizations and is associated with 7% mortality. Moreover, thrombosis (including heart attack, stroke and venous thromboembolism) is the leading cause of death in the United States and worldwide. Nearly 80% of pediatric thrombosis is caused by venous catheters that are needed to care for hospitalized children. Thrombosis is the leading cause of death in people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) which is often caused by glomerular diseases that develop during childhood.
Our research focuses on defining the mechanisms by which venous catheters and glomerular diseases increase thrombosis risk. We have also discovered that some proteins involved in thrombosis are key drivers of glomerular disease progression. Better understanding of these mechanisms is expected to inform the development of novel therapies that could prevent pediatric thrombotic disease and slow or halt progression of kidney disease and thereby prevent the need for dialysis or kidney transplantation.
Meet Our Team
Bryce Kerlin, MD
Principal Investigator
Bryce.Kerlin@NationwideChildrens.org
Bryce Kerlin, MD, is a principal investigator in the Center for Clinical & Translational Research in the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital. Dr. Kerlin is also director of the Joan Fellowship in Pediatric Hemostasis-Thrombosis and an attending physician in the Division of Hematology, Oncology & Blood and Marrow Transplant at Nationwide Children's, as well as a professor of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.
Dr. Kerlin’s research is focused on the translational epidemiology of pediatric thrombosis, focusing on the clarification of biomarkers and clinical features linked to thrombosis, especially in pediatric kidney disease. He actively participates in clinical trials for new treatments in hemostasis and thrombosis, including new medications for hemophilia, von Willebrand disease and blood clots.
Dr. Kerlin earned his bachelor of science degree from Purdue University and his medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin. He trained in Pediatrics at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin and Coagulation Physiology at the Blood Research Institute (Milwaukee). Dr. Kerlin led the Hemophilia Treatment Center at Rady Children’s Hospital where he was also an assistant professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine before joining the faculty at Nationwide Children’s in 2004.
Kaushik Muralidharan, PhD
Postdoctoral Scientist
Kaushik.Muralidharan@NationwideChildrens.org
Kaushik Muralidharan, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow in the Kerlin Lab since August of 2022. He completed his doctoral degree at Purdue University. During his tenure at Purdue, Kaushik characterized the domain architecture of Phospholipase C enzymes using molecular and cell biology techniques and validated the structure of these enzymes using functional assays. It was during this time that Kaushik developed an interest in GPCR signaling biology and characterized the molecular mechanism of small GTPase activation during cardiac hypertrophy. In order to study these dynamic signaling events, Kaushik measured the kinetics of these proteins by measuring their time taken to be recruited and the time taken to stay on the membrane at a single molecule level on a supported lipid bilayer. In the lab of Dr. Kerlin, Kaushik is characterizing key residues and domains involved in Protease Activated Receptor signaling during thrombin mediated podocytopathy through molecular, cell, and structural biology techniques.
Iva Pruner, PhD
Postdoctoral Scientist
Iva.Pruner@NationwideChildrens.org
Iva Pruner, PhD, joined the Kerlin Lab in June 2023 as a postdoctoral fellow. She completed her doctoral degree in molecular mechanisms of thrombophilia at the Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, Serbia and a first postdoctoral fellowship in the role of extracellular vesicles in bleeding disorders at Karolinska Institute, Sweden.
In the Kerlin Lab, she is involved in several projects. Iva is working on the discovery of early biomarkers of catheter-related thrombosis, applying the multi-omics approach to define the protein and metabolic signature of this disease. Additionally, she is working on the development of a new assay for the measurement of factor XIII transglutaminase activity. Iva has continued her research in extracellular vesicles and is now using her previous experience to investigate the role of extracellular vesicles in thrombin-mediated podocytopathy and cell death information transfer to proximal tubules.
Mayra Oseguera, MD
Med-Peds Nephrology Fellow
Mayra.Oseguera@NationwideChildrens.org
Mayra Oseguera, MD, is a third year Med-Peds Nephrology fellow at the Med-Peds nephrology fellowship program at The Ohio State University and Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She is originally from Mexico, where she completed her medical degree at the University of Autonoma de Guadalajara. Prior to Fellowship, Dr. Osegeura completed her Med-Peds residency at the University of Puerto Rico. She is interested in glomerular diseases and chronic kidney disease, for which the Kerlin Lab has given the opportunity to devote her research time to studying the effects of anticoagulation on glomerular disease and chronic kidney disease.
Katelyn Wolfgang
Research Associate
Katelyn.Wolfgang@NationwideChildrens.org
Katelyn joined the Kerlin Lab in 2016. She got her first bachelor’s degree in zoo science from Delaware Valley University before pursuing a second bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State. Katelyn is currently working on developing a new method of podocyte counting in hopes that it will provide more information on how podocytes are damaged/lost in nephrotic syndrome.
Amanda Waller
Research Scientist
Amanda.Waller@NationwideChildrens.org
Amanda is a research scientist in the Kerlin Lab. She joined Nationwide Children’s in 2013 to study the unique interplay between pathophysiologic blood coagulation and glomerular kidney disease with the Kerlin Lab.
Amanda has a background in interdisciplinary research and received her doctorate degree in comparative physiology from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, with her graduate research focusing on muscle substrate utilization and metabolism during exercise and recovery. She completed a three-year postdoctoral fellowship at The Ohio State University, conducting translational research on the effects of insulin resistance on glucose metabolism using both small and large animal models.
One of Amanda’s favorite projects during this time was her work using a novel photolabeling method to study the activity of cell surface glucose transporters in the intact heart, for which she earned an American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship award.
- Eman Abdelghani, MD: Pediatric Hematologist, Innovative Hematology (Indiana Hemophilia and Thrombosis Center)
- Michael Durda, MD: Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University College of Medicine
- Ruchika Sharma, MD: Associate Professor of Pediatrics, UT Southwestern and Dallas Children’s Health
- Zachary Stevenson: Medical Student, University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences
