Kahlilia Morris-Blanco

Presidential Assistant Professor

Core Faculty, Penn Epigenetics Institute

Faculty Member, Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics

Faculty Member, Penn Cardiovascular Institute

Faculty Member, Institute for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism

Department: Cell and Developmental Biology

Contact information

415 Curie Boulevard
Clinical Research Building 364
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Email:
kahlilia.blanco@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Graduate Group Affiliations

Education:
B.S. (Psychobiology)
Southern Adventist University, 2008.
Ph.D. (Neuroscience)
University of Miami, 2014.

Links
Lab Website

Post-Graduate Training
Predoctoral Graduate Student in Neurology, University of Miami, Miami, FL, 2009-2014.
Postdoctoral Fellow in Neurological Surgery, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, 2015-2019.

Permanent link

> Perelman School of Medicine > Faculty > Details

Description of Research Expertise

We investigate the role of epigenetics and mitochondrial dysfunction in aging and stroke pathophysiology. Our research merges neuroscience, genomics, and biochemistry with neurological applications.

Selected Publications

Chokkalla AK, Jeong S, Mehta SL, Davis CK, Morris-Blanco KC, Bathula S, Qureshi SS, Vemuganti R.: Cerebroprotective Role of N(6)-Methyladenosine Demethylase FTO (Fat Mass and Obesity-Associated Protein) After Experimental Stroke. Stroke 2023.

Morris-Blanco KC, Chokkalla AK, Kim T, Bhatula S, Bertogliat MJ, Gaillard AB, Vemuganti R.: High-Dose Vitamin C Prevents Secondary Brain Damage After Stroke via Epigenetic Reprogramming of Neuroprotective Genes. Translational Stroke Research 13(6): 1017-1036, Dec 2022 Notes: Epub 2022 Mar 20. DOI: 10.1007/s12975-022-01007-6.

Morris-Blanco KC, Chokkalla AK, Arruri V, Jeong S, Probelsky SM, Vemuganti R.: Epigenetic mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets in stroke. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 42(11): 2000-2016, Jul 2022.

Mehta SL, Chokkalla AK, Kim T, Bathula S, Chelluboina B, Morris-Blanco KC, Holmes A, Banerjee A, Chauhan A, Lee J, Venna VR, McCullough LD, Vemuganti R.: Long Noncoding RNA Fos Downstream Transcript Is Developmentally Dispensable but Vital for Shaping the Poststroke Functional Outcome. Stroke 52(7): 2381-2392, Jul 2021.

Morris-Blanco KC, Chokkalla AK, Bertogliat MJ, Vemuganti R.: TET3 regulates DNA hydroxymethylation of neuroprotective genes following focal ischemia. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 41(3): 590-603, Mar 2021.

Morris-Blanco KC, Kim T, Lopez MS, Bertogliat MJ, Chelluboina B, Vemuganti R.: Induction of DNA Hydroxymethylation Protects the Brain After Stroke. Stroke 50(9): 2513-2521, Sep 2019.

Kim T, Mehta SL, Morris-Blanco KC, Chokkalla AK, Chelluboina B, Lopez M, Sullivan R, Kim HT, Cook TD, Kim JY, Kim H, Kim C, Vemuganti R.: The microRNA miR-7a-5p ameliorates ischemic brain damage by repressing α-synuclein. Sci Signal 11: eaat4285, Dec 2018.

Li G, Morris-Blanco KC*, Lopez MS, Yang T, Zhao H, Vemuganti R, Luo Y: Impact of microRNAs on ischemic stroke: From pre- to post-disease. Prog Neurobiol Page: 163-164:59-78, 2018 Notes: *Co-First Author

Morris-Blanco KC, Kim T, Bertogliat MJ, Mehta SL, Chokkalla AK, Vemuganti R.: Inhibition of the Epigenetic Regulator REST Ameliorates Ischemic Brain Injury. Mol Neurobiol 56(4): 2542-2550, Apr 2019.

Koronowski KB, Khoury N, Morris-Blanco KC, Stradecki-Cohan HM, Garrett TJ, Perez-Pinzon MA.: Metabolomics based identification of SIRT5 and Protein Kinase C epsilon regulated pathways in brain. Front Neurosci. Jan 2018.