Sarah Hedtrich

Contact Information
Life Sciences Centre
2350 Health Sciences Mall
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z3
Email: sarah.hedtrich@ubc.ca

Current Positions

  • Affiliate Professor, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UBC

Research Interests

The overall vision of the Hedtrich lab research program is to develop and employ complex bioengineered human (disease) models to significantly advance our understanding of the manifestation, progression, and treatment of inflammatory and genetic diseases of human epithelia. We firmly believe that human-based models are critical closing the current translational gap in biomedical research. Hence, my lab’s research relies on complex human-based organ- and organ-on-chip (OoC) models. We harness these models (1) to unravel pathological mechanisms and (2) to develop and test next-generation therapies. Our interdisciplinary research requires close intersectional collaborations with clinicians, engineers, and other life sciences disciplines.

Specific interests:

  • Bioengineering of complex human (disease) models
  • Inflammatory & genetic diseases of human epithelia with a focus on skin, lungs, and intestine
  • In situ gene editing strategies for severe, monogenic skin and lung diseases
  • Non-viral drug & gene delivery

Selected Publications (out of >100 publications):

  1. Adhikary PP, Idowu T, Tan Z, Hoang C, Shanta S, Dumbani M, Mappalakayil L, Awasthi B, Bermudez M, Weiner J, Beule D, Wolber G, *Page BDG, *Hedtrich S.: Disrupting TSLP-TSLP receptor interactions via putative small molecule inhibitors yields a novel and efficient treatment option for atopic diseases. EMBO Mol Med 2024; 16: 1630-1656.
  2. Udabe J, Muñoz-Juan A, Tafech B, Orellano MS, Hedtrich S, Laromaine A, Calderón M:  Modulating the mucosal drug delivery efficiency of polymeric nanogels tuning their redox response and surface charge. Adv Function Mat. 2024. Contribution: Studying nanogel behavior in mucus samples
  3. Tafech B, Rokhforouz MR, Leung J, Sung MM, Lin PJ, Sin DD, Lauster D, Block S, Quon BS, Tam Y, Cullis P, *Feng JJ, *Hedtrich S.: Exploring Mechanisms of Lipid Nanoparticle-Mucus Interactions in Healthy and Cystic Fibrosis Conditions. Adv Healthc Mater; 13:e2304525.
  4. Wu J, Jones N, Chao PH, Chan V, Hohenwarter L, Wu A, Bergamo M, Rodríguez-Rodríguez C, Saatchi K, Liang A, Häfeli UO, Tan Z, Hedtrich S, Andrew LJ, Li SD.: Intranasal delivery of low-dose anti-CD124 antibody enhances treatment of chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps. Biomaterials; 308 :122567. Contribution: generation of human-based (disease) models, experimental setup, absorption study in tissue models.
  5. Bolsoni J, Liu D, Mohabatpour F, Ebner R, Sadhnani GG, Tafech B, Leung J, An K, Morin T, Chen Y, Choate K, Jan E, Ross CD, Brambilla D, Witzigmann D, Kulkarni JA, Cullis PR, *Hedtrich S.: Lipid Nanoparticle Mediated Hit-and-Run Approaches Yield Efficient and Safe in situ Gene Editing in Human Skin. ACS Nano; 17: 22046-22059.
  6. Löwa A, Feng JJ, *Hedtrich S.: Human Disease Models in Drug Development. Nature Reviews Bioengineering; 11:1-15.
  7. Graff P, Wilzopolski J, Voss, A, Blimkie TM, Weiner J, Kershaw O, Panwar P, Hackett TL, Brömme D, Beule D, Hancock REW, Gruber AD, Bäumer W, *Hedtrich S.: Extracellular Matrix Remodeling in Atopic Dermatitis Harnesses the Onset of an Asthmatic Phenotype and is a Potential Contributor to the Atopic March. J Invest Dermatol; doi: 10.1016/j.jid.2023.09.278.
  8. Feng JJ, Hedtrich S.: A similarity scaling approach for organ-on-chip devices. Lab Chip.; 22:3663-3667.
  9. Calderón M, *Hedtrich S.: The delivery challenge of genome editing in human epithelia. Adv Healthc Mater; 10:e2100847.
  10. Adhikary PP, Ul Ain Q, Hocke A, *Hedtrich S.: COVID-19 highlights the model dilemma in biomedical research. Nature Reviews Materials, doi: 10.1038/s41578-021-00305-z. Non-peer reviewed expert commentary
  11. Charbaji R, Kar M, Theune LE, Bergueiro J, Navarro L, Graff P, Eichhorst A, Stumpff F, *Calderon M, *Hedtrich S.: Design and testing of efficient mucus-penetrating nanogels – Pitfalls of preclinical testing and lessons learned. Small. doi: 10.1002/smll.202007963
  12. Plank, R., Yealland, G., Miceli, E., Graff, P., Eckl, K., Cunha, D.L., Gruber, R., Moosbrugger-Martinez, V., Calderon, M., *Hennies, H.C., *Hedtrich, S.: Transglutaminase 1 replacement therapy successfully mitigates the ARCI phenotype in full-thickness skin disease equivalents. J Invest Dermatol, 139: 1191-1195. (shared corresponding authorship)
  13. Guilbidugian, M., Yealland, G., Hönzke, S., Edlich, A., Geisendörfer, B., Kleuser, B., *Hedtrich, S., *Calderon, M.: Breaking the barrier – potent anti-inflammatory activity following efficient topical delivery of etanercept using thermoresponsive nanogels. Theranostics. 8: 450-463. (shared corresponding authorship
  14. Wallmeyer, L., Dietert, K., Sochorova, M., Gruber, A., Kleuser, B., Vavrova, K., *Hedtrich, S.: TSLP is a trigger for T cell migration in filaggrin-deficient skin equivalents. Sci Rep, 7: 774.

Education

Dr. Hedtrich obtained her PhD in Pharmacology & Toxicology from the Freie Universität Berlin in Germany in 2009. During her postdoc, she moved to the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich and Tufts University in Boston, USA.