Helen Miranda

Helen Miranda is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Genetics and Genome Sciences and Neurology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Her research focuses on modeling motor neuron diseases (MNDs) using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), with a focus on spinal bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). She develops co-culture systems to study interactions between motor neurons, astrocytes, and skeletal muscles. Dr. Miranda holds a PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of São Paulo and completed postdoctoral training at UC San Diego, where she pioneered iPSC models for neurodegenerative disorders. Her work bridges basic science and translational medicine, aiming to identify novel therapeutic targets.

Education: BS in Biomedicine (State University of Londrina), MS in Immunopathology (State University of Londrina), PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology (University of São Paulo). Postdoctoral Fellowships: La Spada and Muotri Labs, UC San Diego.

Research Interests: iPSC modeling of neuromuscular disorders, cell-autonomous/non-autonomous pathophysiology, drug discovery for neurodegeneration, co-culture systems for disease mechanisms, and translational neuroscience.

Publications: Over 26 peer-reviewed articles in journals like Cell Reports, Neuron, and Stem Cells Dev. Recent work focuses on TFEB signaling in neuroinflammation, mitochondrial stress in ALS, and optogenetic neuromuscular junction models.

Labs/Teams: Leads a lab at Case Western Reserve University focused on iPSC-based disease modeling and therapeutic screening for motor neuron diseases.