Elizabeth E. “Betsy” Crouch
Assistant Professor

Education:
- DePauw University, Greencastle IN BA Summa Cum Laude
- Columbia University, New York NY MD
- Columbia University, New York NY PhD Neuroscience

Residencies:
University of California, San Francisco, Pediatrics

Fellowships:
University of California, San Francisco: Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine

Postdoctoral Training:
Starting 2018- University of California, San Francisco

Research Interests: 
brain development
vascular biology
endothelial cells
pericytes
radial glia
neurovascular interactions
flow cytometry
RNASeq
germinal matrix hemorrhage
premature birth

Research mentors:
Rafael Casellas, NIAMS/NIH (past)
Fiona Doetsch, Biozentrum University of Basel (past)
Eric Huang (current)

Honors:
- 2014 Miriam Spotnitz Award for excellence in cancer research; Columbia University
- 2015 Krevans Award nominee for excellence in patient care; SFGH
- 2017-2018 Eli and Edythe Broad Regeneration and Stem Cell Fellowship
- 2018-2020 Pediatric Scientist Development Program Fellowship

Publications:
- Crouch EE, Li Z, Takizawa M, Fichtner-Feigl S, Gourzi P, Montaño C, Feigenbaum L,
Wilson P, Janz S, Papavasiliou FN, and Casellas R. Regulation of AID expression in the
immune response. J Exp Med. 2007 May 14;204(5):1145-1156.
- Kruhlak M, Crouch EE, Orlov M, Montaño C, Gorski S, Nussenzweig A, Misteli T, Phair R,
and Casellas R. The ATM repair pathway inhibits RNA polymerase I transcription in response
to chromosome breaks. Nature. 2007 Jun 7;447(7145):730-4.
- Silva-Vargas V, Crouch EE, Doetsch F. Stem cells and their niche: A dynamic duo during
homeostasis, regeneration, and aging. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2013 Dec:23(6):935-42.
- LeDuc CA, Crouch EE, Wamelink M, Jakobs C, Salomons S, Sun X, Shen Y, Chung WK.
Novel association of early onset hepatocellular carcinoma with transaldolase deficiency. JIMD
Rep. 2014;12:121-7.
- Crouch EE, Liu C, Silva-Vargas V, Doetsch F. Regional and Stage-Specific Effects of
Prospectively Purified Vascular Cells on the Adult V-SVZ Neural Stem Cell Lineage. J
Neurosci. 2015 March 18;35(11):4528-39.
- Crouch EE, Doetsch F. Prospective FACS isolation of endothelial cells and pericytes from
brain micro-regions. Nature Protocols, 2018.

Narrative:
My research interests include the neurovascular unit and brain development and the use of cutting-edge strategies to investigate neural-vascular interactions. The vasculature is emerging as a key contributor to brain function during neurodevelopment and in mature physiological and pathological states. During my PhD, I developed a widely applicable protocol based on Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting (FACS) to isolate endothelial cells and pericytes from micro-regions of the adult mouse brain and studied the effects of these cells on different stages of the neural stem cell lineage. These experiments determined that factors from endothelial cells and pericytes from regions of the adult brain that do not harbor stem cells can still support key neural stem cell behaviors, such as proliferation and the production of new neurons.
This work has exciting implications for brain plasticity. In my current work, I am studying the role of blood vessel cells in brain development during physiological and pathological states. These studies also have relevance to neonatology as extremely premature infants are vulnerable to life threatening brain hemorrhage. Despite the severity of this condition, its mechanism remains unknown. To fund my research, I have been awarded fellowships from the Edythe and Eli
Broad Regeneration and Stem Cell Fellowship and the Pediatric Scientist Development Program.