McCarthy Lab
The McCarthy Lab is focused on understanding epigenetic mechanisms regulating cell identity during development, and applying these discoveries to cell reprogramming with the goal of developing liver cell therapies for transplantation.
The mission of the McCarthy lab is to understand how epigenetic gene repression regulates cell identity and function, and to utilize this knowledge to control cell identity for generating cell therapeutics and treat disease.
Ryan McCarthy, PhD
Ryan McCarthy, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Center for Developmental Biology and Regenerative Medicine (CDBRM) at Seattle Children’s Research Institute and a member of the University of Washington School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics (Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology). Dr. McCarthy’s primary research interest is to understand how cell identity and function is regulated, utilize this knowledge to understand development and disease, and apply this knowledge with the goal of generating liver cell therapies.
Dr. McCarthy received his PhD from the University of Georgia where he studied transcriptional networks regulating secondary cell wall and wood formation under the mentorship of Zheng-Hua Ye, PhD. He continued his training at MD Anderson Cancer Center as a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Michelle Barton, PhD, where he developed single cell methods for investigating lineage specification during human embryonic stem cell differentiation and investigated the role of p53 in differentiation. He completed additional postdoctoral work investigating mechanisms of heterochromatic repression and cell identity at the University of Pennsylvania in the laboratory of Ken Zaret, PhD. In 2017, he received an NIH NIDDK K01 under the mentorship of Dr. Zaret. Dr. McCarthy joined the Center for Developmental Biology and Regenerative Medicine in October 2022.