Shaun Abrams, D.D.S., Ph.D.
NIH/NIDCR
Building 30, Room 426
30 Convent Dr.
Bethesda, MD 20892
United States
Biographical Sketch
Dr. Abrams’ goal is to become a leading clinician-scientist in the field of craniofacial development and craniofacial anomalies studying the genetic and molecular basis for craniofacial defects to develop innovative therapeutic strategies. Dr. Abrams completed the D.D.S./Ph.D. program at the University of California, San Francisco in 2020, graduating with honors and was inducted into the Omicron Kappa Upsilon National Dental Honor Society. His Ph.D. work in the lab of Dr. Jeremy Reiter uncovered how primary cilia regulate development of the facial midline. Dr. Abrams returned to NIDCR as a Dental Clinical Research Fellow in 2021 to build upon his love for developmental biology sparked during his time as a postbaccalaureate Intramural Research Traineeship Award Fellow in the lab of Dr. Matthew Hoffman. He is currently an Independent Research Scholar at NIDCR, and his team works jointly with the Kerosuo and Werner Labs studying how the ubiquitin pathway regulates neural crest development and how centrioles/cilia coordinate craniofacial development.
- Pajanoja C, Hsin J, Olinger B, Schiffmacher A, Yazejian R, Abrams S, et al. Maintenance of pluripotency-like signature in the entire ectoderm leads to neural crest stem cell potential. Nat Commun. 2023 Sep 23;14(1):5941. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023- 41384-6.
- Asmar AJ, Abrams SR, Hsin J, Collins JC, Yazejian RM, Wu Y, et al. A ubiquitin-based effector-to-inhibitor switch coordinates early brain, craniofacial, and skin development. Nat Commun. 2023 Jul 26;14(1):4499. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-40223-y.
- Xie C, Abrams SR, Herranz-Perez V, García-Verdugo JM, Reiter JF. Endoderm development requires centrioles to restrain p53-mediated apoptosis in the absence of ERK activity. Dev Cell. 2021 Dec 20;56(24):3334-3348.e6. doi: 10.1016/j. evcel.2021.11.020.
- Abrams SR, Reiter JF. Ciliary Hedgehog signaling regulates cell survival to build the facial midline. Elife. 2021 Oct 21;10:e68558. doi: 10.7554/eLife.68558.
- Hasenpusch-Theil K, Laclef C, Colligan M, Fitzgerald E, Howe K, Carroll E, et al. A transient role of the ciliary gene Inpp5e in controlling direct versus indirect neurogenesis in cortical development. Elife. 2020 Aug 25;9:e58162. doi: 10.7554/eLife.58162.