Teresa Lever, PhD

Research interests

• Aerodigestive health (particularly deglutition and dysphagia) in biological aging and age-related disease/conditions

Research summary

Teresa Lever’s research focuses on developing technologies for earlier detection and better treatment of dysphagia (swallowing impairment), a common symptom of numerous health conditions affecting adults (e.g., ALS, Parkinson’s, and head/neck cancer) and children (e.g., Prader-Willi syndrome and Batten disease). Her lab conducts preclinical and clinical studies with rodent models, humans, and companion animals to understand dysphagia causes and test new interventions. The goal is to reduce life-threatening complications of dysphagia, particularly aspiration pneumonia, to enhance quality of life and survival for human and veterinary patients.

Lab staff

• Kate Osman, Research Specialist, MS

Select publications

• Islam S, Gleber-Netto FO, Mulcahy CF, Glaun MDE, Srivastava S, Hunt PJ, Williams MD, Barbon CE, Spiotto M, Zhao W, Adebayo A, Akhter S, Xie T, Debnath KC, Sathishkumar HN, Myers B, Lothumalla S, Yaman I, Burks JK, Gomez J, Rao X, Wang J, Woodman K, Mansour J, Arenkiel B, Osman KL, Haxton C, Lever TE, Hutcheson KA, Amit M. Neural landscape is associated with functional outcomes in irradiated patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. Sci Transl Med. 2024 Jul 31;16(758):eabq5585. Epub 2024 Jul 31. PMID: 39083586
• Keilholz AN, Pathak I, Smith CL, Osman KL, Smith L, Oti G, Golzy M, Ma L, Lever TE, Nichols NL. Tongue exercise ameliorates structural and functional upper airway deficits in a rodent model of hypoglossal motor neuron loss. Front Neurol. 2024;15:1441529. PMID: 39296960
• Lever TE, Kloepper A, Welby L, Haney M, Fudge S, Seiller C, Kington S, Ballenger B, Nichols NL. Minimally Invasive Murine Laryngoscopy for Close-Up Imaging of Laryngeal Motion during Breathing and Swallowing. J Vis Exp. 2023, e66089, doi:10.3791/66089.
• Lowenstein ED, Ruffault PR, Misios A, Osman KL, Li H, Thompson R, Song K, Dietrich S, Li X, Vladimirov N, Brunet JF, Woehler A, Zampieri N, Kühn R, Jia S, Lewin GR, Rajewsky N, Lever TE, Birchmeier C. Prox2+ and Runx3+ neurons regulate esophageal motility. Neuron. 2023 May (Online ahead of print) PMID: 37192624
• Mueller M, Thompson R, Osman KL, Andel E, DeJonge CA, Kington S, Stephenson Z, Hamad A, Bunyak F, Nichols NL, Lever TE. Impact of Limb Phenotype on Tongue Denervation Atrophy, Dysphagia Penetrance, and Survival Time in a Mouse Model of ALS. Dysphagia. 2022 Dec;37(6):1777-1795. Epub 2022 Apr 15. PMID: 35426522