Meredith D. Hartley
- Assistant Professor
Contact Info
Lawrence, KS 66045
Lawrence
Personal Links
Education —
2011-2019
Specialization
- Biochemistry
- Bioanalytical
- Organic
- Chemical Biology
- Neurochemistry
Research —
Myelination in the central nervous system
The research in the Hartley laboratory focuses on myelin, which is the protective insulation that wraps around neurons and acts as an insulator to increase the efficiency of neuronal signaling. Myelin is critical for a healthy central nervous system, and damage to myelin (or demyelination) occurs in neurological diseases like multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease. Our laboratory studies how the central nervous system (CNS) repairs myelin after damage with the goal of identifying new pathways that could be targeted for therapeutic development. We have two main areas of interest within this field: (1) lipids are a major component of myelin and our goal is to define how lipids are regulated during myelin damage and repair, and (2) thyroid hormone and estrogen can induce remyelination and our goal is to identify specific pathways that mediate the hormone action during remyelination.
Selected Publications —
Zupan, M., Petersen, J., Stover, A., Fairchild, C., De Silva Mohotti, N., Hartley, M.D., Spinal cord and brain microglial heterogeneity contributes to divergent repair outcomes after demyelination. J. Neuroimmunol. 2026, 419, 579022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroim.2026.579022
De Silva Mohotti, N., Williams, J.M., Binjawadagi, R., Kobayashi, H., Dedunupitiya, D., Petersen, J.M., Garcia, A., Hartley, M.D., Temporal dynamics of CNS cholesterol esters correlate with demyelination and remyelination. ACS Chem Neurosci. 2026, 17 (1), 160-172. https://doi.org/10.1021/acschemneuro.5c00703
Escobar, E.L.N., De Silva Mohotti, N., Manolescu, M., Radadiya, A., Dhar, P., Hartley, M.D., Reduced cholesterol alters the biophysical properties of the repaired myelin. Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Cell Biol Lipids. 2025, 1879 (5), 159637. https://doi.org/10.1021/acschemneuro.5c00703
De Silva Mohotti, N., Kobayashi, H., Williams, J.M., Binjawadagi, R., Evertsen, M.P., Christ, E.G., Hartley, M.D., Lipidomic analysis reveals differences in the extent of remyelination in the brain and spinal cord. J. Proteome Res.2024, 23 (8), 2830-2844. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jproteome.3c00443
Awards & Honors —
Sutton Family Research Impact Award, 2026
Sutton Family Research Impact Award, 2023
American Thyroid Association Early Career Research Grant, 2020-2022
OHSU Postdoctoral Paper of the Year Award, 2019
National Multiple Sclerosis Society Postdoctoral Fellow, 2015-2018
American Chemical Society Predoctoral Fellowship in Medicinal Chemistry, 2008-2009