Projects per year
Personal profile
Personal profile
Dr. Krencik received his PhD in neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison under the supervision of Dr. Su-Chun Zhang. During this time, he devised the first cellular system for the efficient generation of human glial progenitors and astrocyte subtypes from pluripotent stem cells and characterized their functionality. This system has been experimentally utilized for cellular replacement therapy to promote learning and memory and to improve the maturity of neuronal subtypes. Furthermore, this powerful approach has become the high standard in research laboratories throughout the world to study various aspects of human disease. To understand how human astrocytes respond and signal to neurons in the context of neurodevelopmental disorders, Dr. Krencik conducted research as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California-San Francisco under the mentorship of Dr. Erik Ullian and co-mentorship of Dr. David Rowitch. These studies led to several novel and important discoveries including the identification of a possible mechanism for astrocytes in controlling the timing of synaptic plasticity. More recently, he has been optimizing three dimensional in vitro cocultures of the human nervous system as an improved disease model and platform for neuroregeneration. His research goals and schemes have been summarized in numerous review articles and he enjoys interacting with the scientific community at conferences and through collaborative research projects.
Research interests
The Krencik lab is specifically focused on understanding the functional relationship of human neurons and astrocytes in normal and injured states. We employ novel three-dimensional human pluripotent stem cell-based culture techniques, optogenetic methods, electrophysiology, transplantations and molecular/biochemical approaches to answer vital questions and accelerate progress in neuroregeneration including cellular engraftment therapy and drug discovery. In addition, we work with the Neurosurgery Department and other institutions at the Texas Medical Center with the goal of translating innovative neuroscience research discoveries into clinical therapies for restoration of the nervous system after injury and disease.
Research Area Keywords
- Neurosciences
- Regenerative Medicine
Free-text keywords
- Neuroregeneration
- Neuroscience
- Spinal cord
- Spinal cord Injury
- Stem cells
- Neural stem cells
- Astrocytes
- Neuron-Glia interactions
- Physiology
- Disease modeling
- Translational medicine
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Projects
- 5 Active
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A Novel Organoid Platform to Modulate Human Neural Networks Integrated with Glioblastoma Stem Cells
Krencik, R. C. & Rostomily, R. C.
8/31/20 → 8/30/22
Project: State
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Systems-wide analysis of oxidative stress-responsive m6A epitranscriptome
6/15/20 → 3/31/25
Project: Federal Funding Agencies
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Midbrain Asteroids to Interrogate Human Astrocyte Function within Neural Networks
1/1/20 → 9/30/22
Project: Non Profit
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Astroparticles: A Human Astrocyte-Based Nanotechnology for Neuroregeneration
10/24/19 → 10/23/21
Project: Non Profit
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MicroBRAINS: Bioengineered Human Neural Circuits for Aging Research
Krencik, R. C. & Horner, P. J.
7/1/19 → 3/31/21
Project: Federal Funding Agencies
Research Output
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Concepts toward directing human astroplasticity to promote neuroregeneration
Patel, R., Muir, M., Cvetkovic, C. & Krencik, R., Jul 17 2018, In : Developmental Dynamics. p. 21-33 248.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article
1 Scopus citations -
Mutations in GFAP Disrupt the Distribution and Function of Organelles in Human Astrocytes
Jones, J. R., Kong, L., Hanna, M. G., Hoffman, B., Krencik, R., Bradley, R., Hagemann, T., Choi, J., Doers, M., Dubovis, M., Sherafat, M. A., Bhattacharyya, A., Kendziorski, C., Audhya, A., Messing, A. & Zhang, S. C., Oct 23 2018, In : Cell Reports. 25, 4, p. 947-958.e4Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
17 Scopus citations -
Patient-derived iPSCs show premature neural differentiation and neuron type-specific phenotypes relevant to neurodevelopment
Yeh, E., Dao, D. Q., Wu, Z. Y., Kandalam, S. M., Camacho, F. M., Tom, C., Zhang, W., Krencik, R., Rauen, K. A., Ullian, E. M. & Weiss, L. A., Aug 1 2018, In : Molecular Psychiatry. 23, 8, p. 1687-1698 12 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
5 Scopus citations -
Synaptic microcircuit modeling with 3D cocultures of astrocytes and neurons from human pluripotent stem cells
Cvetkovic, C., Basu, N. & Krencik, R., Aug 16 2018, In : Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE. 2018, 138, e58034.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
5 Scopus citations -
Human stem cell-derived astrocytes replicate human prions in a PRNP genotype-dependent manner
Krejciova, Z., Alibhai, J., Zhao, C., Krencik, R., Rzechorzek, N. M., Ullian, E. M., Manson, J., Ironside, J. W., Head, M. W. & Chandran, S., Dec 4 2017, In : The Journal of experimental medicine. 214, 12, p. 3481-3495 15 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
24 Scopus citations