Crystal M Miller, PhD

Crystal Miller earned a BS in Neuroscience and English from Muskingum University and her doctorate in Neurosciences from Case Western Reserve University. Her thesis research focused on nerve growth during embryonic development using Drosophila as a model system. This was followed by a Postdoctoral position at the Cleveland Clinic during which she obtained her own grant and studied the role of inflammation in Alzheimer’s disease. Crystal then pivoted to the secondary education sector to direct the nationally recognized Science Research & Engineering Program (SREP) at Hathaway Brown School from 2015-2022 mentoring and coaching students one-on-one for success in professional research laboratories and high stakes competitions.

Publications

Hunt P, Dong M, Miller CM. A multi-year science research or engineering experience in high school gives women confidence to continue in the STEM pipeline or seek advancement in other fields: A 20-year longitudinal study. PLOS ONE. 2021 Nov 3;16(11): e0258717. PMID: 34731176.

Bemiller SM, Maphis NM, Formica SV, Wilson GN, Miller CM, Xu G, Kokiko-Cochran ON, Kim KW, Jung S, Cannon JL, Crish SD, Cardona AE, Lamb BT, Bhaskar K. Genetically enhancing the expression of chemokine domain of CX3CL1 fails to prevent tau pathology in mouse model of tauopathy. Neuroinflammation. 2018; 15(1):278-289. PMID: 30253780

Jay TR, Broihier ML, Miller CM, Neilson LE, Ransohoff RM, Lamb BT, Landreth GE. Disease progression-dependent effects of TREM2 deficiency in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of Neuroscience. 2016; 37(3):637-647. PMID: 28100745

Jay TR(1), Miller CM(1), Cheng PJ, Graham LC, Bemiller S, Broihier M, Xu G, Margevicius D, Karlo C, Sousa GL, Cotleur AC, Bekris L, Staugaitis S, Leverenz J, Pimplikar S, Landreth G, Howell G, Ransohoff RM, Lamb BT. TREM2 deficiency eliminates TREM2+ inflammatory macrophages and ameliorates pathology in Alzheimer’s disease mouse models. The Journal of Experimental Medicine. 2015;212(3):287-295. PMID: 25732305 (1 – These authors contributed equally)

Miller CM, Liu N, Page-McCaw A, Broihier HT. Drosophila MMP2 regulates the matrix molecule Faulty attraction (Frac) to promote motor axon targeting in Drosophila. Journal of Neuroscience. 2011;31(14):5335-47. Featured Article. PMID: 21471368

Miller CM, Page-McCaw A, Broihier HT. Matrix metalloproteinases promote motor axon fasciculation in the Drosophila embryo. Development. 2008;135(1):95-109. PMID: 18045838

Recognition

2015-2022 Kettering Foundation Chair of Science Research, Hathaway Brown 
2022 Ohio JSHS Colonel George F. Leist Distinguished Teacher Award
2021 Ohio JSHS Colonel George F. Leist Distinguished Teacher Award
2019 Crain’s Cleveland Business Notable Women in STEM
2019 Women Living STEM in Northeast Ohio
2018 NCSSS Innovative STEM Student Program Semifinalist
2018 Research Teacher Captain at Regeneron STS Research Teachers Conference
2016 Cornell University Merrill Recipient’s (HB ’12) Inspirational HS Teacher
2015 Post-Doctoral Neurosciences Poster Award at Neurological Institute Research Day, CCF
2015 2nd place poster award at the Lerner Research Institute Retreat, CCF
2014 Research named in “Top 10 Trends of 2014” by AlzForum
2013-2014 BrightFocus Alzheimer’s Disease Research Postdoctoral Fellowship Award
2012 Travel Award to ISN Advanced School on New approaches in glial cell research
2010 The Vance Lemmon Award at Biomedical Graduate Student Symposium, CWRU
2010 Poster award at Developmental Biology Retreat, CWRU
2009, 2010 Assistant at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Neurobiology of Drosophila course
2008-2010 Pre-doctoral Ruth Kirschstein Individual National Research Service Award, CWRU
2007-2008 Pre-doctoral Trainee on Developmental Training Grant (1 year), CWRU
2007 Fine Science Tools Fellowship, CWRU
2005-2007 Pre-doctoral Trainee on Neurosciences Training Grant (1.5 years), CWRU