Research Fellow, Vascular Biology Program, Boston Children's Hospital
Research Fellow, Harvard Medical School
Tim earned his BS from Heinrich-Heine University in Duesseldorf (Germany) in association with Michigan State University (USA). His thesis described a potential mechanism of how dextromethorphan derived anti-diabetics promote insulin secretion. Subsequently, he acquired his MS at the German Diabetes Center (Duesseldorf, Germany), developing insulin secretagogues with vascular protective properties for the treatment of diabetes. Tim returned to Michigan State University for his PhD study to focus on the role of dyslipidemia in microvascular complications of diabetes under Prof. Julia Busik. His thesis pioneered the pathological role of cholesterol crystal formation and ceramide-rich platform formation in diabetic retinopathy pathogenesis.
Tim joined the Hla lab in February of 2024 as a Postdoctoral Fellow to expand his expertise on the role of sphingolipids in vascular health and disease, aiming to elucidate the therapeutic potential of S1P designer chaperones in metabolic and microvascular diseases.
Selected Publications:
Dorweiler TF and Singh A, Ganju A, Lydic T, Glazer L, Kolesnick RN, Busik JV. Diabetic Retinopathy is Ceramidopathy Reversed by Anti-Ceramide Immunotherapy. Cell Metabolism. 2024.
Dorweiler TF and Hammer SS, McFarland D, Adu-Agyeiwaah Y, Mast N, El-Darzi N, Fortmann SD, Nooti S, Agrawal DK, Pikuleva IA, Abela GS, Grant MB, Busik JV. Cholesterol crystal formation is a unifying pathogenic mechanism in the development of diabetic retinopathy. Diabetologia. 2023 Sep;66(9):1705-1718. doi: 10.1007/s00125-023-05949-w. Epub 2023 Jun 14. PMID: 37311879; PMCID: PMC10390399.
Wistrup Torm ME, Dorweiler TF, Fickweiler W, Levine RS, Fort PE, Sun JK, Gardner TW, Frontiers in diabetic retinal disease, Journal of Diabetes and its Complications, Volume 37, Issue 2, 2023, 108386, ISSN 1056-8727.