Wendy M. Mars, PhD
Wendy M. Mars, PhD
Dr. Wendy Mars is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology, Division of Experimental Pathology, at the University of Pittsburgh. She has a secondary appointment with the University of Pittsburgh Clinical and Translational Science Institute and is affiliated with the Heart and Lung Vascular Institute. She is also the Director of the Cellular & Molecular Pathology (CMP) Graduate Program in the Department of Pathology as well and serves as Director of the Angiopathy Training Program (ATP).
Dr. Mars received her BS in Medical Technology from Arizona State University. She then earned her PhD in the Molecular Genetics of Cancer from the University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Science. She did post-graduate work as a project investigator at the University of Texas System Cancer Center, M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, before she came to Pittsburgh.
Dr. Mars’ research areas include:
- The role of tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) in abrogating hepatic fibrosis
- The role of t-PA in hepatocyte/biliary cell transdifferentiation
- The yin/yang roles of Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF) and IL-6 in immune function as related to fatty liver disease
- Studies on the interactions between the urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-PA), HGF, and their respective receptors LRP1 and MET in normal and disease states of the liver