Amanda Jamieson, PhD, featured on NBC 10 news

Congratulations to Amanda Jamieson, PhD, featured on NBC 10 news for her research on e-cigarettes.

Dr. Won-Kyung Cho awarded 5 month pilot project

Dr. Won-Kyung Cho was awarded a 5 month pilot project with the CPVB COBRE at the Ocean State Research Institute. Cho is currently an Assistant Professor Medicine – Pulmonary at Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and an attending at the Providence VA Medical Center. Her pilot project is entitled Interleukin-13-mediated mechanisms of pulmonary vascular remodeling. Cho’s proposal provides an innovative concept of the possible interplay between inflammatory and metabolic processes, which would shed greater insights into the pathogenesis of PAH. The ultimate goal is to apply for independent funding for further development of this project including a possible clinical trial.

Dr. Siddique Abbasi awarded pilot project

Dr. Siddique Abbasi was awarded a 5-month pilot project with the CPVB COBRE at the Ocean State Research Institute. Abbasi is currently an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and the director or Cardiac MRI at the Providence VA Medical Center. He has research experience in the interplay of pulmonary disease and cardiovascular consequences and is an expert in the cardiac MRI techniques proposed in the study. His pilot project is entitled Pulmonary Artery Stiffness and Right Ventricular Fibrosis in PH: a CMR Study. The long-term goal is to identity individuals prior to maladaptive right ventricular fibrosis and identify novel therapeutic strategies aimed at improving pulmonary artery function.

Amanda Jamieson, PhD awarded (DARPA) Young Faculty Award (YFA)

Amanda Jamieson was awarded a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award (YFA). Her grant entitled: “Influence of lung microbiome on tolerance to pulmonary infections” was funded in the “Microbial Mediation of Host Tolerance to Infection” research area. Her CPVB COBRE pilot project focused on how influenza A virus (IAV)/bacterial coinfection of the lung affected host tolerance/resilience mechanisms of pulmonary endothelial cells. This grant further explores the concept that the ability to survive a given infection is determined by two main factors, pathogen clearance and host resilience/tolerance. Influenza A virus infections are a significant threat to global health, causing an estimated 500,000 deaths annually. Coinfection with IAV and bacteria significantly increases morbidity and mortality over viral infection alone. In addition to the complex interactions the human body has with multiple microbial pathogens, there are an estimated 100 trillion microbial cells, known as the human microbiome, residing throughout the body. The objective of this study is to understand how resilience responses to IAV are altered by lung microbiota, with the end goal of developing new treatment options to complex lung infections.

Graduate Student in Dr. Peng Zhang’s Laboratory (Project 4) Receives American Heart Association (AHA) Predoctoral Fellowship Award

We are pleased to announce that Nedyalka (Nelly) Valkov, a graduate student in the laboratory of Dr. Peng Zhang, MD & MS (PI of the Project 4), has been awarded an American Heart Association (AHA) Predoctoral Fellowship. The 2 year fellowship award entitled “A novel inhibitory role of microRNA-1 in cardiac fibroblast activation” from 07/01/2015 to 6/30/2017 has a total amount of $46,000 to support Nelly on investigation of the regulatory effects of microRNA-1 and its mechanisms of action in cardiac fibroblasts. Nelly is currently a 3rd year graduate student in the Graduate Program of the Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology (MPP) at Brown University. Dr. Peng Zhang is Nelly’s Thesis Advisor and Sponsor for the awarded AHA Predoctoral Fellowship.

Pilot Project PI Receives American Heart Association (AHA) Grant-in-Aid Award

We are pleased to announce that CPVB COBRE pilot project PI Jun Feng, MD & PhD, has received an American Heart Association (AHA) Grant-in-Aid award. The 3 year award titled Metabolic Regulation of Endothelial SKCa/IKCa Channels and Coronary Endothelial Function will begin 7/1/2015 to 6/30/2018, totaling $198,000. For this AHA project application, Dr. Feng employed pilot data from his ongoing CPVB-COBRE pilot project. The new AHA award is for Dr. Feng to continue to investigate the mechanism responsible for metabolic regulation of small and intermediate calcium-activated potassium channels and endothelial function in an animal model of metabolic syndrome. Dr. Frank Sellke is Dr. Feng’s Mentor for current ongoing pilot project of CPVB.COBRE.

Celebrating big science in a small state

Dr. Corey Ventetuolo is featured in an article titled “Celebrating big science in a small state” on Brown University’s News from Brown website. The article describes nine major NIH-funded biomedical research centers in the last 15 years have helped Rhode Island build a significant national profile.

Anyu Zhou, PhD Awarded 5 Month Pilot Project

Anyu Zhou, PhD, was awarded a 5 month pilot project with the CardioPulmonary Vascular Biology COBRE at the Ocean State Research Institute. Zhou is currently an Assistant Professor (Research) of Medicine at The Alpert Medical School of Brown University and the Cardiovascular Research Center, Rhode Island Hospital. His pilot project is entitled “Desregulated pre-mRNA Splicing by RBM25 in Endothelial Injury Under Hypoxia Stress.” This project will investigate the role of alternative pre-mRNA splicing regulation in the onset and progression of endothelial injury and ultimately aims to find druggable targets for treatment of human diseases related to endothelial injury and repair.

Craig Lefort, PhD Awarded 5 month Pilot Project

Craig Lefort, PhD, was awarded a 5 month pilot project with the CardioPulmonary Vascular Biology COBRE at the Ocean State Research Institute. Lefort is currently an Assistant Professor Surgery (Research) at Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital. His pilot project is entitled “Integrin Activation Regulates Neutrophil Trafficking within the Murine Lung.” The proposed work will provide a better understanding of how neutrophils, the first responders of the immune system, travel from the circulation into the airways of the lung during a respiratory infection This work will use a new lung infection model and expand his research interests into pulmonary inflammation, including neutrophil trafficking and integrin biology. This will serve as the basis for translational studies with the goal of blocking unwanted immune cell responses while preserving host defense.

Jillian McCullough, PhD Awarded 5 month Pilot Project

Jillian McCullough, PhD, was awarded a 5 month pilot project with the CardioPulmonary Vascular Biology COBRE at the Ocean State Research Institute. McCullough is completing her Postdoctoral training in Pulmonary Hypertension at the Vascular Research Laboratory at Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Providence VA Medical Center. Her pilot project is entitled “Peripheral Blood Flow and Exercise Intolerance in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.” The goal of the proposed research grant is to elucidate the role of the peripheral microvasculature as a potential contributor to exercise intolerance in pulmonary arterial hypertension.