{{short description|American neuroscientist}} {{use mdy dates|date=March 2020}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Maria K. Lehtinen | workplaces = Harvard Medical School | awards = NYSCF Robertson Neuroscience Investigator | website = {{URL|http://www.childrenshospital.org/research/labs/lehtinen-laboratory}} | alma_mater = Harvard University (PhD) | field = Neuroscience }} '''Maria K. Lehtinen''' is a neuroscientist and Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School. She is a New York Stem Cell Foundation Robertson Neuroscience Investigator<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nyscf.org/people/post-filters/people_group/nyscf-robertson-neuroscience-investigators/|website=NYSCF|title=Robertson Neuroscience Investigators Archives}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-10/nysc-na102416.php|title=NYSCF announces $9 million in grant awards to 6 new NYSCF -- Robertson Investigators|website=EurekAlert!|language=en|access-date=2020-03-07}}</ref> and holds the Hannah C. Kinney, MD Chair in Pediatric Pathology Research at Boston Children's Hospital.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.childrenshospital.org/research/researchers/l/maria-k-lehtinen|title=Maria K. Lehtinen, PhD {{!}} Researcher {{!}} Boston Children's Hospital|website=www.childrenshospital.org|access-date=2020-03-07}}</ref> Her research focuses on cerebrospinal fluid-based signaling in the central nervous system.
== Education and Training == Lehtinen did her undergraduate studies at University of Pennsylvania.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.childrenshospital.org/research/labs/lehtinen-laboratory/lehtinen-lab-members|title=Lehtinen Lab Members {{!}} Boston Children's Hospital|website=www.childrenshospital.org|access-date=2020-03-07}}</ref> She then received her PhD in Neurobiology from Harvard University working in the laboratory of Azad Bonni. Her graduate work elucidating the biological mechanisms of oxidative stress has been cited over 700 times.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lehtinen|first1=Maria K.|last2=Yuan|first2=Zengqiang|last3=Boag|first3=Peter R.|last4=Yang|first4=Yue|last5=Villén|first5=Judit|last6=Becker|first6=Esther B. E.|last7=DiBacco|first7=Sara|last8=Iglesia|first8=Núria de la|last9=Gygi|first9=Steven|last10=Blackwell|first10=T. Keith|last11=Bonni|first11=Azad|date=2006-06-02|title=A Conserved MST-FOXO Signaling Pathway Mediates Oxidative-Stress Responses and Extends Life Span|journal=Cell|language=English|volume=125|issue=5|pages=987–1001|doi=10.1016/j.cell.2006.03.046|issn=0092-8674|pmid=16751106|s2cid=14496749|doi-access=free}}</ref>
Lehtinen did a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Anna-Elina Lehesjoki at the University of Helsinki in Finland where she discovered a physiological mechanism underlying progressive myoclonus epilepsy.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lehtinen|first1=M. K.|last2=Tegelberg|first2=S.|last3=Schipper|first3=H.|last4=Su|first4=H.|last5=Zukor|first5=H.|last6=Manninen|first6=O.|last7=Kopra|first7=O.|last8=Joensuu|first8=T.|last9=Hakala|first9=P.|last10=Bonni|first10=A.|last11=Lehesjoki|first11=A.-E.|date=2009-05-06|title=Cystatin B Deficiency Sensitizes Neurons to Oxidative Stress in Progressive Myoclonus Epilepsy, EPM1|journal=Journal of Neuroscience|language=en|volume=29|issue=18|pages=5910–5915|doi=10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0682-09.2009|issn=0270-6474|pmc=2694495|pmid=19420257}}</ref> She then continued her postdoctoral work with Christopher A. Walsh at Boston Children's Hospital, discovering that cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) affects the proliferation of neural progenitor cells during brain development.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lehtinen|first1=Maria K.|last2=Zappaterra|first2=Mauro W.|last3=Chen|first3=Xi|last4=Yang|first4=Yawei J.|last5=Hill|first5=Anthony D.|last6=Lun|first6=Melody|last7=Maynard|first7=Thomas|last8=Gonzalez|first8=Dilenny|last9=Kim|first9=Seonhee|last10=Ye|first10=Ping|last11=D'Ercole|first11=A. Joseph|date=March 2011|title=The Cerebrospinal Fluid Provides a Proliferative Niche for Neural Progenitor Cells|journal=Neuron|language=en|volume=69|issue=5|pages=893–905|doi=10.1016/j.neuron.2011.01.023|pmc=3085909|pmid=21382550}}</ref>
== Career and Research == In 2010, Lehtinen received a prestigious K99/R00 NIH Pathway to Independence award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://connects.catalyst.harvard.edu/Profiles/display/Person/12636|title=Maria Lehtinen {{!}} Harvard Catalyst Profiles {{!}} Harvard Catalyst|website=connects.catalyst.harvard.edu|access-date=2020-04-12}}</ref> This award funded her transition from postdoctoral fellow to assistant professor as she launched her independent laboratory at Boston Children's Hospital studying CSF-mediated signaling during development.
Lehtinen's work has shed light on several crucial aspects of biology. Her early groundbreaking work demonstrated formerly unrecognized spatial heterogeneity in the choroid plexus.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lun|first1=Melody P.|last2=Johnson|first2=Matthew B.|last3=Broadbelt|first3=Kevin G.|last4=Watanabe|first4=Momoko|last5=Kang|first5=Young-Jin|last6=Chau|first6=Kevin F.|last7=Springel|first7=Mark W.|last8=Malesz|first8=Alexandra|last9=Sousa|first9=André M. M.|last10=Pletikos|first10=Mihovil|last11=Adelita|first11=Tais|date=2015-03-25|title=Spatially heterogeneous choroid plexus transcriptomes encode positional identity and contribute to regional CSF production|journal=The Journal of Neuroscience|volume=35|issue=12|pages=4903–4916|doi=10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3081-14.2015|issn=1529-2401|pmc=4389594|pmid=25810521}}</ref> She has made several discoveries on the mechanisms of brain development,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Chau|first1=Kevin F.|last2=Shannon|first2=Morgan L.|last3=Fame|first3=Ryann M.|last4=Fonseca|first4=Erin|last5=Mullan|first5=Hillary|last6=Johnson|first6=Matthew B.|last7=Sendamarai|first7=Anoop K.|last8=Springel|first8=Mark W.|last9=Laurent|first9=Benoit|last10=Lehtinen|first10=Maria K.|date= 10 May 2018|title=Downregulation of ribosome biogenesis during early forebrain development|journal=eLife|volume=7|doi=10.7554/eLife.36998|issn=2050-084X|pmc=5984036|pmid=29745900 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Smith|first1=Richard S.|last2=Kenny|first2=Connor J.|last3=Ganesh|first3=Vijay|last4=Jang|first4=Ahram|last5=Borges-Monroy|first5=Rebeca|last6=Partlow|first6=Jennifer N.|last7=Hill|first7=R. Sean|last8=Shin|first8=Taehwan|last9=Chen|first9=Allen Y.|last10=Doan|first10=Ryan N.|last11=Anttonen|first11=Anna-Kaisa|date=5 September 2018|title=Sodium Channel SCN3A (NaV1.3) Regulation of Human Cerebral Cortical Folding and Oral Motor Development|journal=Neuron|volume=99|issue=5|pages=905–913.e7|doi=10.1016/j.neuron.2018.07.052|issn=1097-4199|pmc=6226006|pmid=30146301}}</ref> and how that development is regulated by amniotic fluid and CSF.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Chau|first1=Kevin F.|last2=Springel|first2=Mark W.|last3=Broadbelt|first3=Kevin G.|last4=Park|first4=Hye-Yeon|last5=Topal|first5=Salih|last6=Lun|first6=Melody P.|last7=Mullan|first7=Hillary|last8=Maynard|first8=Thomas|last9=Steen|first9=Hanno|last10=LaMantia|first10=Anthony S.|last11=Lehtinen|first11=Maria K.|date=2015-12-21|title=Progressive Differentiation and Instructive Capacities of Amniotic Fluid and Cerebrospinal Fluid Proteomes following Neural Tube Closure|journal=Developmental Cell|volume=35|issue=6|pages=789–802|doi=10.1016/j.devcel.2015.11.015|issn=1878-1551|pmc=4691285|pmid=26702835}}</ref> Her work has also identified mechanistic underpinnings of developmental abnormalities including choroid plexus and ciliary body tumorigenesis <ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Shannon|first1=Morgan L.|last2=Fame|first2=Ryann M.|last3=Chau|first3=Kevin F.|last4=Dani|first4=Neil|last5=Calicchio|first5=Monica L.|last6=Géléoc|first6=Gwenaelle S.|last7=Lidov|first7=Hart G. W.|last8=Alexandrescu|first8=Sanda|last9=Lehtinen|first9=Maria K.|date=June 2018|title=Mice Expressing Myc in Neural Precursors Develop Choroid Plexus and Ciliary Body Tumors|journal=The American Journal of Pathology|volume=188|issue=6|pages=1334–1344|doi=10.1016/j.ajpath.2018.02.009|issn=1525-2191|pmc=5971223|pmid=29545198}}</ref> and microcephaly in LIG4 syndrome<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lun|first1=Melody P.|last2=Shannon|first2=Morgan L.|last3=Keles|first3=Sevgi|last4=Reisli|first4=Ismail|last5=Luche|first5=Nicole|last6=Ryan|first6=Douglas|last7=Capuder|first7=Kelly|last8=Notarangelo|first8=Luigi D.|last9=Lehtinen|first9=Maria K.|date=December 2019|title=Spatiotemporal Gradient of Cortical Neuron Death Contributes to Microcephaly in Knock-In Mouse Model of Ligase 4 Syndrome|journal=The American Journal of Pathology|volume=189|issue=12|pages=2440–2449|doi=10.1016/j.ajpath.2019.08.010|issn=1525-2191|pmc=6897336|pmid=31541646}}</ref>
== Publications == {{Scholia|author}} *{{Cite Q|Q24338599}} *{{Cite Q|Q34169014}} *{{Cite Q|Q44017737}}
== Awards and honors == Lehtinen was a recipient of the 2017 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.<ref>{{cite web|title=President Obama Honors Federally-Funded Early-Career Scientists|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2017/01/09/president-obama-honors-federally-funded-early-career-scientists|date= 9 January 2017 | access-date=28 May 2022}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lehtinen, Maria}} Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Place of birth missing (living people) Category:American neuroscientists Category:American women neuroscientists Category:Harvard Medical School faculty Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni Category:Harvard University alumni Category:American women academics Category:21st-century American women Category:Recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers