Katie C. Russell, Ph.D.

Katie C. Russell received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 2006, her M.S. in Biomedical Sciences from Tulane University in 2010, and her Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Tulane University in 2012. She then went on to pursue a joint instructor/postdoctoral research position at Tulane University. Utilizing her research experience, Katie developed an Introductory Biotechnology Lab which was added to the department's curriculum in 2013. Due to her love of teaching, she went on to accept a Professor of Practice position in 2014. Additionally, Katie serves as the department's AIChE student chapter advisor and collaborates on research projects involving enrichment strategies for mesenchymal stem cells.

Katie's past research involved stem cell technology where she developed high-capacity clonal assays to quantify heterogeneity in potency of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), resolved MSC hierarchy of lineage commitment, correlated MSC potency with proliferation potential, identified new markers of MSC potency, and developed sort strategies for MSC enrichment. She has authored several scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals such as Stem Cells, and Tissue Engineering. Katie was also the recipient of a Board of Regents Fellowship and the Women's Auxiliary to the Louisiana Engineering Society Fellowship during her doctoral studies.

Research Interests

Stem Cell Technology, Clonal Heterogeneity, Flow Cytometry, Sort Strategies for Mesenchymal Stem Cell Enrichment

Publications

SD Madsen, KC Russell, HA Tucker, J Glowacki, BA Bunnell, KC O'Connor. Decoy TRAIL receptor CD264: a cell surface marker of cellular aging for human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells. Stem Cell Res Ther, 8:201 (2017).

KC Russell, HA Tucker, BA Bunnell, M Andreeff, W Schober, AS Gaynor, KL Strickler, S Lin, MR Lacey and KC O’Connor. Cell-surface expression of neuron-glial antigen 2 (NG2) and melanoma cell adhesion molecule (CD146) in heterogeneous cultures of marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells. Tissue Eng Part A, 19: 2253-66 (2013).

KC Russell, MR Lacey, JK Gilliam, HA Tucker, DG Phinney and KC O’Connor. Clonal analysis of proliferation potential of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells as a function of potency. Biotechnol Bioeng, 108: 2716-26 (2011). [FEATURED ARTICLE]

K O’Connor, BL Barrilleaux, DG Phinney, BW Fischer-Valuck, KC Russell and DJ Prockop. Regulating in vitro motility of human mesenchymal stem cells with macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) and a small-molecule MIF antagonist. Cellular Solutions for Clinical Challenges, N Jenkins, Ed. (Springer Publishers, Netherlands, 2011), in press.

KC Russell, DG Phinney, MR Lacey, BL Barrilleaux, KE Meyertholen and KC O’Connor. In vitro high-capacity assay to quantify the clonal heterogeneity in trilineage potential of mesenchymal stem cells reveals a complex hierarchy of lineage commitment. Stem Cells, 28: 788-98 (2010). [Among Top 50 Downloaded Articles in Stem Cells for March 2010]

BW Fischer-Valuck, BL Barrilleaux, DG Phinney, KC Russell, DJ Prockop and KC O’Connor. Migratory response of mesenchymal stem cells to macrophage migration inhibitory factor and its antagonist as a function of colony-forming efficiency. Biotechnol Lett, 32: 19-27 (2010).

BL Barrilleaux, DG Phinney, BW Fischer-Valuck, KC Russell, G Wang, DJ Prockop and KC O’Connor. Small-molecule antagonist of macrophage migration inhibitory factor enhances migratory response of mesenchymal stem cells to bronchial epithelial cells. Tissue Eng Part A, 15: 2335-46 (2009).