Elizabeth E. LeClair

Experience

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  Jefferson Health

  Jan 1996 - Jan 1999

  Postdoctoral Fellow

  I was a NIH NRSA postdoctoral fellow in TJU's Dept. of Orthopaedic Surgery. I used avian and mouse models and human patient samples to study chondrogenesis and osteogenesis both in vivo and in vitro. In a separate project I helped to characterize sPLUNC-1 (now BPIF-A1) which is an innate immune protein expressed in upper respiratory tract secretions.

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  DePaul University

  Jan 1999 - Mar 2022

  Principal investigator of a NIH-funded research lab using the zebrafish model organism to better understand the innate immune system, wound healing, regeneration and tumor spread.

  • Principal Investigator

    Jan 2014 - Mar 2022

  • Associate Professor

    Jan 2005 - Jan 2014

  • Assistant Professor

    Jan 1999 - Jan 2005
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  Stanley Manne Children's Research Institute

  Jan 2008 - Jan 2009

  Visiting Professor

  For my 2008-2009 sabbatical year I joined the Topczewski Lab at the Stanley Manne Children's Reseach Institute, using the zebrafish to study cartilage defects, genetics of pediatric craniofacial syndromes, and the regeneration of injured sensory neurons.

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  Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago

  Jan 2014 - Jan 2015

  Visiting Professor

  For my 2014-2015 sabbatical year I trained in bioinformatics, genomic library preparation, and CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing techniques in collaboration with my Chicago-area colleagues.

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  University of Illinois Chicago

  Jan 2020 - Jan 2021

  Visiting Professor

  For my 2020-2021 sabbatical I joined the Saxena Lab in their studies of olfactory neurogenesis, neural regeneration and Alzheimer's precursor protein (APP) using the zebrafish model organism.

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  Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago

  Apr 2022 - Apr 2024

  Research Scientist / Laboratory Manager

  -Manage 10-person research lab supported by 4 federal grants and 5 philanthropic funds.-Place twice-weekly requisitions for all goods and services, averaging $20-30K/month. -Coordinate preventative maintenance on all lab equipment including capillary sequencers, fluorescent microscopes, and microfluidic devices.-Point of contact for NWU's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) and the Office of Research Safety (ORS). Meet for scheduled inspections, identifying regulatory concerns and planning corrective actions. -Launched a lab-wide kanban-card system to reduce inventory volume and eliminate supply gaps. -Created online spending dashboard using Google Sheet array queries, providing real-time tracking of grant utilization and other financial trends.PERSONNEL ROLES-Review CVs and carry out phone screenings for multiple vacant positions. -Schedule Zoom interviews, on-site visits, facility tours, seminar presentations and social events.-Onboard one (1) senior scientist, two (2) postdocs and one (1) research tech in a 3-month period. BENCH ROLES-Process human saliva, blood, and cranial suture biopsies for high-quality DNA and RNA extraction.-Analyze whole-exome and whole-genome sequences (WES & WGS) to detect probable pathogenic missense mutations, insertions/deletions, and copy number variants (CNVs) in patient families.-Plan CRISPR knock-out, knock-in and base-editing strategies in zebrafish and cultured cells.-Assess gene-editing efficacy using PCR, heteroduplex analysis, Sanger sequencing and other methods.-Optimize embryo dissociation for flow cytometry of neural cell subpopulations.-Sort cells using BD FACS Melody and Aria instruments.-Transfect HEK293 cells with patient-variant expression vectors and optimize lysis conditions to extract large, tagged, membrane-associated proteins for mass spec and quantitative Western blotting.-Write macro code to automate batch processing of 2D and 3D confocal datasets in FIJI. Show less

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  Northwestern University - The Feinberg School of Medicine

  May 2024 - now

  Research Lab Manager, Opthalmology