Laurie DeLeve, MD, PhD, FAASLD

Biography

I happily wear the label of physician-scientist and am on the faculty of Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California. Rather than describing myself, I would rather tell you about some of our research. Since my Fellowship, my basic science has focused on the liver sinusoidal endothelial cell, the LSEC. Our lab has demonstrated that the LSEC can be a primary target in liver injury; first reported that healthy LSECs prevent stellate cell activation, how they do so, and that this action is lost in capillarization; identified one of the intrahepatic LSEC progenitors; and found that a bone marrow LSEC progenitor can be recruited to the liver, where it promotes liver regeneration and engrafts as an LSEC. Like all types of liver cells, the LSEC is fascinating.