Mark E. Hester

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT MARK E. HESTER

Mark E Hester, Ph.D. is a Principal Investigator at the Institute for Genomic Medicine at the Abigail Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. He is also an Associate Professor with Tenure at The Ohio State University in the Department of Pediatrics. The Hester lab\'s research program focuses on investigating disease mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental disorders with the ultimate goal of translating these research discoveries into lasting treatment options for pediatric patients.We utilize a multi-disciplinary approach in our laboratory that encompasses neuroscience, stem cell biology, biochemistry, and molecular genetics to investigate the dynamic nature of the developing brain both in the context of disease and injury and under normal physiology. Specifically, we employ a variety of tools in our research such as electrophysiology, OMICs-based technologies, stem cell technologies, genome editing, and AAV gene therapy. Recently, we have applied human cerebral organoid technology to our research to study mechanisms of human cortical development and to gain mechanistic insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental disorders. Cerebral organoids are self-organizing, three-dimensional, organ-like brain tissue, which are derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) that can form discrete regions of the human brain including cerebral cortex, choroid plexus, and others, if appropriate differentiation cues are present. We envision these tools will help guide therapeutic strategies for neurological disorders.