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Blanche Young

Blanche Young, PhD, MS

Assistant Professor


Department: Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Professional Studies

Education

  • BA - University of Hawaii at Manoa
  • PhD - Tufts University

Blanche Young earned her BA from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Her research career began when she acquired a stipend from the Minority Biomedical Research Support grant from the National Institutes of Health. This opportunity allowed her to complete a Master of Science from the Department of Anatomy studying brain glucose metabolism during cocaine withdrawal followed by pharmacotherapy.

Dr. Young then went to Boston and completed her PhD at Tufts University learning about the roles of collagen in maintaining the architecture of cornea and tendon tissues. Her postdoctoral research led her to Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia where she expanded her knowledge to include cartilage biology, specifically to understand the role of Indian hedgehog protein in cranial base development. She continued her research career for another five years in the lab of Dr. Lewis Chodosh, studying molecular mechanisms in breast cancer.

Dr. Young joined the Interdepartmental Medical Science (IMS) program in January 2012, as full time teaching faculty, and now serves as co-director of the program. She is part of the teaching team for the Microanatomy Lab course and Medicine and Society course. In addition, she teaches general biology in the Evening Post-Baccalaureate Premedical (PMED) program. Dr. Young has recently developed a course entitled Fundamentals of Cancer Biology that encompasses many basic aspects of biology presented in a disease model.

Publications

Selected Publications

"A distinct cohort of progenitor cells participates in synovial joint and articular cartilage formatin during mouse limb skeletogenesis"
E. Koyama, Y. Shibukawa, M. Nagayama, H. Sugito, B. Young, T. Yuasa, T. Okabe, T. Ochiai, N. Kamiya, R.B. Rountree, D.M. Kingsley, M. Iwamoto, M. Enomoto-Iwamoto, and M. Pacifici
Developmental Biology, 1:316(1):62-73 (April 2008)

"Wnt/beta-catenin signaling regulates cranial base development and growth"
M. Nagayama, M. Iwamoto, A. Hargett, N. Kamiya, Y. Tamamura, B. Young, T. Morrison, H. Takeuchi, M. Pacifici, M. Enomoto-Iwamoto, and E. Koyama
Journal of Dental Research, 87(3):244-249 (March 2008)

"Conditional Kif3a ablation causes abnormal hedgehog signaling topography, growth plate dysfunction and ectopic cartilage formation in mouse cranial base synchondroses"
E. Koyama, B. Young, Y. Shibukawa, M. Nagayama, M. Enomoto-Iwamoto, M. Iwamoto, B. Lanske, B. Song, R. Serra, and M. Pacifici
Development, 134(11):2159-69 (June 2007)

"Indian and sonic hedgehogs regulate synchondrosis growth plate and cranial base development and function"
B. Young, N. Minugh-Purvis, T. Shimo, B. St-Jacques, M. Iwamoto, M. Enomoto-Iwamoto, E. Koyama, and M. Pacifici
Developmental Biology, 299:272-282 (2006)

"Development of tendon structure and function: regulation of collagen fibrillogenesis"
G. Zhang, B.B. Young, Y. Ezura, M. Favata, L.J. Soslowsky, S. Chakravarti, and D.E. Birk
Journal of Musculoskeletal Neuronal Interactions, 5(1):5-21 (2005)

"Differential expression of type XII collagen in developing chicken metatarsal tendons"
G. Zhang, B.B. Young, and D.E. Birk
Journal of Anatomy, 202:411-420 (2003)

"The Roles Of Types XII and XIV Collagen In Fibrillogenesis And Matrix Assembly In The Developing Cornea"
B.B. Young, G. Zhang, M. Koch, and D.E. Birk
Journal of Cellular Biochemistry, 87:208-220 (2002)

"Expression of Type XIV Collagen in Developing Chicken Tendons: Association with Assembly and Growth of Collagen Fibrils"
B.B. Young, M.K. Gordon, and D.E. Birk
Developmental Dynamics, 217:430-439 (2000)


Contact Information


Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Professional Studies
60 N. 36th Street
Health Sciences Bldg., Rm. 10W25
Philadelphia, PA 19104