Elizabeth Crouch, MD, PhD

I am a neuroscientist, a vascular biologist, and a physician in Neonatal-Perinatal medicine. My lab, the Neurovascular Development lab at crouchlab.ucsf.edu, studies how brain blood vessels grow and interact with other brain cells. In part, this interest is inspired from the preterm babies that I care for clinically. Approximately 20% of preterm babies born between 24-28 gestation weeks will develop germinal matrix hemorrhage (GMH). This hemorrhage can cause hydrocephalus, cerebral palsy, and death, and unfortunately there are currently no treatments. It remains unclear why vasculature in this developmental window is particularly sensitive. One critical barrier is the lack of a comprehensive understanding of the spatiotemporal dynamics of vascular cell development in the prenatal brain. Our research resolves around defining the stages of vascular stem cells in the developing brain and understanding the mechanisms that regulate their functions. We then apply this knowledge to produce novel technologies and therapeutic strategies for different brain hemorrhages in neonatal and pediatric patients. Towards these goals, we utilize neuropathological specimens, flow cytometry (FACS), bioinformatics, and cell culture, including organoid models. We are always interested in hiring motivated and talented individuals. Send an email to inquire; women and URM especially encouraged to apply. For fun, we run the BreakingDownBiology blog (also funded by UCSF ImmunoX) to explain exciting scientific journal articles with every day language. I also co-host "At the Bench: Neonatal Physician Scientists" for the Incubator Podcast network.
Education
MD, - Medicine, Columbia University
PhD, - Neuroscience, Columbia University
BA, - Biochemistry, DePauw University
Fellowship, - Neonatology, University of California, San Francisco
Residency, - Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco
Honors and Awards
  • Young Physician-Scientist Award, American Society for Clinical Investigation, 2023
  • Invited speaker, Gordon Conference on Angiogenesis, 2023
  • New Innovator Award (DP2), NIH NIMH, 2023
  • Discussion leader, International Vascular Biology Meeting, 2022
  • Bhatt Ramanathan Scholarship Award for excellence in neonatology research, California Association of Neonatologists, 2020
  • Physician Scientists Scholars Program, UCSF, 2020
Websites

  1. Ouellette J, Crouch EE, Morel JL, Coelho-Santos V, Lacoste B. A Vascular-Centric Approach to Autism Spectrum Disorders. Neuroscience insights 2024. PMID: 38476695


  2. Crouch EE, Diafos LN, Valenzuela EJ, Wedderburn-Pugh K, Birrueta JO, Caston J, Joseph T, Andrews MG, Bhaduri A, Huang EJ. Profiling human brain vascular cells using single-cell transcriptomics and organoids. Nature protocols 2023. PMID: 38102365


  3. Crouch EE, Damas C, Bartrug WC, Shamiyeh A, Scelfo M, Dreyfus M, Gano D, Segal S, Franck LS. Parents' Views on Autopsy, Organ Donation, and Research Donation After Neonatal Death. JAMA network open 2023. PMID: 37930699


  4. Andrews MG, Siebert C, Wang L, White ML, Ross J, Morales R, Donnay M, Bamfonga G, Mukhtar T, McKinney AA, Gemenes K, Wang S, Bi Q, Crouch EE, Parikshak N, Panagiotakos G, Huang E, Bhaduri A, Kriegstein AR. LIF signaling regulates outer radial glial to interneuron fate during human cortical development. Cell stem cell 2023. PMID: 37673072


  5. Raleigh D, Mirchia K, Choudhury A, Joseph T, Birrueta J, Phillips J, Bhaduri A, Crouch E, Perry A. Meningeal solitary fibrous tumor cell states phenocopy cerebral vascular development and homeostasis. Research square 2023. PMID: 37546798


  6. Choudhury A, Cady MA, Lucas CG, Najem H, Phillips JJ, Palikuqi B, Zakimi N, Joseph T, Birrueta JO, Chen WC, Bush NAO, Hervey-Jumper SL, Klein OD, Toedebusch CM, Horbinski CM, Magill ST, Bhaduri A, Perry A, Dickinson PJ, Heimberger AB, Ashworth A, Crouch EE, Raleigh DR. NOTCH3 drives meningioma tumorigenesis and resistance to radiotherapy. bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology 2023. PMID: 37503127


  7. Crouch EE, Joseph T, Marsan E, Huang EJ. Disentangling brain vasculature in neurogenesis and neurodegeneration using single-cell transcriptomics. Trends in neurosciences 2023. PMID: 37210315


  8. Jain S, Spadafora R, Maxwell S, Botas C, Nawaytou H, von Scheven E, Crouch EE. A Case of Neonatal Lupus Presenting with Myocardial Dysfunction in the Absence of Congenital Heart Block (CHB): Clinical Management and Brief Literature Review of Neonatal Cardiac Lupus. Pediatric cardiology 2022. PMID: 36460799


  9. Crouch EE, Bhaduri A, Andrews MG, Cebrian-Silla A, Diafos LN, Birrueta JO, Wedderburn-Pugh K, Valenzuela EJ, Bennett NK, Eze UC, Sandoval-Espinosa C, Chen J, Mora C, Ross JM, Howard CE, Gonzalez-Granero S, Lozano JF, Vento M, Haeussler M, Paredes MF, Nakamura K, Garcia-Verdugo JM, Alvarez-Buylla A, Kriegstein AR, Huang EJ. Ensembles of endothelial and mural cells promote angiogenesis in prenatal human brain. Cell 2022. PMID: 36179668


  10. Duffy EE, Finander B, Choi G, Carter AC, Pritisanac I, Alam A, Luria V, Karger A, Phu W, Sherman MA, Assad EG, Pajarillo N, Khitun A, Crouch EE, Ganesh S, Chen J, Berger B, Sestan N, O'Donnell-Luria A, Huang EJ, Griffith EC, Forman-Kay JD, Moses AM, Kalish BT, Greenberg ME. Developmental dynamics of RNA translation in the human brain. Nature neuroscience 2022. PMID: 36171426


  11. Andrews MG, Mukhtar T, Eze UC, Simoneau CR, Ross J, Parikshak N, Wang S, Zhou L, Koontz M, Velmeshev D, Siebert CV, Gemenes KM, Tabata T, Perez Y, Wang L, Mostajo-Radji MA, de Majo M, Donohue KC, Shin D, Salma J, Pollen AA, Nowakowski TJ, Ullian E, Kumar GR, Winkler EA, Crouch EE, Ott M, Kriegstein AR. Tropism of SARS-CoV-2 for human cortical astrocytes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2022. PMID: 35858406


  12. Delgado RN, Allen DE, Keefe MG, Mancia Leon WR, Ziffra RS, Crouch EE, Alvarez-Buylla A, Nowakowski TJ. Individual human cortical progenitors can produce excitatory and inhibitory neurons. 2021. PMID: 34912114


  13. Ross JM, Kim C, Allen D, Crouch EE, Narsinh K, Cooke DL, Abla AA, Nowakowski TJ, Winkler EA. The Expanding Cell Diversity of the Brain Vasculature. Frontiers in physiology 2020. PMID: 33343397


  14. Di Marco B, Crouch EE, Shah B, Duman C, Paredes MF, Ruiz de Almodovar C, Huang EJ, Alfonso J. Reciprocal Interaction between Vascular Filopodia and Neural Stem Cells Shapes Neurogenesis in the Ventral Telencephalon. Cell reports 2020. PMID: 33053356


  15. Khakipoor S, Crouch EE, Mayer S. Human organoids to model the developing human neocortex in health and disease. Brain research 2020. PMID: 32240655


  16. Bhaduri A, Di Lullo E, Jung D, Müller S, Crouch EE, Espinosa CS, Ozawa T, Alvarado B, Spatazza J, Cadwell CR, Wilkins G, Velmeshev D, Liu SJ, Malatesta M, Andrews MG, Mostajo-Radji MA, Huang EJ, Nowakowski TJ, Lim DA, Diaz A, Raleigh DR, Kriegstein AR. Outer Radial Glia-like Cancer Stem Cells Contribute to Heterogeneity of Glioblastoma. Cell stem cell 2020. PMID: 31901251


  17. Crouch EE, Doetsch F. FACS isolation of endothelial cells and pericytes from mouse brain microregions. Nature protocols 2018. PMID: 29565899


  18. 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. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience 2015. PMID: 25788671


  19. Leduc CA, Crouch EE, Wilson A, Lefkowitch J, Wamelink MM, Jakobs C, Salomons GS, Sun X, Shen Y, Chung WK. Novel association of early onset hepatocellular carcinoma with transaldolase deficiency. JIMD reports 2013. PMID: 24097415


  20. Silva-Vargas V, Crouch EE, Doetsch F. Adult neural stem cells and their niche: a dynamic duo during homeostasis, regeneration, and aging. Current opinion in neurobiology 2013. PMID: 24090877


  21. Kruhlak M, Crouch EE, Orlov M, Montaño C, Gorski SA, Nussenzweig A, Misteli T, Phair RD, Casellas R. The ATM repair pathway inhibits RNA polymerase I transcription in response to chromosome breaks. Nature 2007. PMID: 17554310


  22. Crouch EE, Li Z, Takizawa M, Fichtner-Feigl S, Gourzi P, Montaño C, Feigenbaum L, Wilson P, Janz S, Papavasiliou FN, Casellas R. Regulation of AID expression in the immune response. The Journal of experimental medicine 2007. PMID: 17452520