20th IVBM
Helsinki, Finland
June 3-7, 2018
Registration and Abstract Submission now open!
Vasculata 2018
St. Louis, MO
July 23 - 26, 2018
Vascular Biology
Newport, RI
October 14-18, 2018
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Help Support NAVBO
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Join us for our First Webinar
Registration is now open for our March 8 webinar
(1:00pm EST), featuring Dr. Ondine Cleaver. The webinar is free for members in good standing and only $25 for all others.
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Ondine Cleaver, UT Southwestern Medical Center
GTPase regulation of actomyosin during blood vessel tubulogenesis.
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Lessons Learned
(from the January 11 issue)
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Dr. Henar Cuervo of the University of Illinois at Chicago Shares Her Insights
I started my lab at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) about a year and a half ago. I am still finding my way through and know that there are many challenges ahead, but I am happy to share some of my lessons learned. Some of you may find it helpful; some of you may enjoy the trip down memory lane.
Get plenty of advice, and then trust that you are making the best decision you can. As scientists, we do a thorough background research before we start an experiment, we search what has been published, what techniques have been used, and then once we have all the information, we design and execute our experiment. So, I felt that I needed to do the same when making important decisions about managing/setting up my new lab. I read several books (I strongly recommend "At the Helm: Leading your laboratory" by Kathy Barker, and "Making the Right Moves" published by the HHMI), and took advantage of the great faculty mentorship at UIC. However, more frequently than not, I would hear opposing advice from similarly successful senior professors; for example: Professor A would suggest using your Start-up funds aggressively to get the best preliminary data you could to secure grant funding, while Professor B would recommend to be cautious with spending and save some of the Start-up funds for a rainy day. As it usually happens in life, nothing is black and white, and everyone has had a different story and has different circumstances, ultimately the decision has to work for you and how you like to manage your lab.
Learn to say no. This is one of the big clichés, I know, but after a year and a half I am still struggling with it. It is much easier said that done. As you start your lab you will be invited to give talks, to review papers, to review grants, to serve in multiple committees, to teach...etc. I actually find most of these activities to be exciting; they make me feel proud to be contributing to my Department/University, and to the overall scientific community-plus it is a good way to learn the lay of the land. I found that being part of the "Graduate Education Committee" in my Department allowed me, for example, to get familiar with the graduate student selection, and the thesis (and qualifying exam) rules and requirements. This experience turned out to be particularly useful when I was part of a qualifying exam committee, or when recruiting graduate students to my lab. Similarly, being a grant reviewer for the Department of Defense and seeing how that process worked was a fantastic learning experience towards crafting my own grants. However, while all this service work can be edifying and rewarding, it takes a substantial amount of time and focus, and it is easy to neglect your own research group. It is therefore critical to keep a good balance between your own research and the service to the academic/scientific community. As I mentioned, I still have not found the perfect formula (I am not even sure it exists), but I try to select talks, reviews, and other tasks that I feel I can either learn from, or that can help in the development of my career.
Be patient. The first year while setting up the lab is usually not as productive as you would like it to be. You have to spend time negotiating prices with sales representatives, preparing IRB and IACUC protocols, training students...etc. The experiments that you thought were so easy and just took you a couple of hours to get done when you were working at the end of your postdoc might take much more for your newly trained student(s). I remember feeling frustrated with how slow things were moving in the first months: I knew it would take some time to get the lab up and running, but I also wanted to be productive and get good results as soon as possible. I had to be patient, and focus on building my lab and training my students thoroughly. It took more time than I wanted, sure, but now when I see my students' data and presentations I know it was worth it.
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The Lab of Dr. Henar Cuervo
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Spotlight on Trainees
(from our January 11 issue)
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The role of liberal arts in STEM education
"Liberal studies in higher education suffer from lack of esteem," writes Simon Marginson in a recent issue of
University World News, "but they embody crucial insights into how society works. And suddenly, they have acquired crucial new responsibility." Marginson posits that the social media-based public spaces created by STEM-educated leaders of the tech sector have, ironically, been become dominated by a populist brand of politics that "...radically undermines the values of higher education, jettisons validated and creative knowledge, and deepens the divide between universities and the public interest." As a countermeasure, he argues that a foundation in the liberal arts and sciences can broaden and deepen a STEM student's scientific literacy, as well as promote their healthy social connectedness and awareness of global conditions.
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Cancer Therapy Induced Cardio Vascular Toxicity
Guest Editors
Andreas M. Beyer, Marcelo Bonini, and Javid Moslehi, along with the editorial team of AJP-Heart and Circulatory Physiology, invite submission of original research and short reviews on the emerging area of cardio-oncology, which explores adverse cardiovascular side effects of cancer chemotherapy.
This call for papers focuses on three major components: a) increased understanding of clinical and physiological challenges surrounding adverse cardiovascular events induced by cancer therapy that include radiation treatment as well as chemotherapy b) improved definition of the basic mechanisms that underlie radiation/chemotherapy induced cardiovascular toxicity, and c) establishing relevant interventions to prevent or counteract the negative cardiovascular outcomes of anti-cancer therapy.
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Welcome to our Newest Member:
Kaikobad Irani, University of Iowa
NAVBO member
Richard Levin, MD, President and CEO of The Arnold P. Gold Foundation, reports that the organization's founder, Dr. Arnold P. Gold, died this week in New York City. The Gold Foundation, as envisioned by the longtime Columbia faculty member Dr. Gold, seeks to preserve the humanistic passion that motivates physicians at the beginning of their education, by creating a compassionate, collaborative, and scientifically excellent Gold Standard in Healthcare.
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Recent Publications by NAVBO Members
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Scientific Reports
Obesity and type 2 diabetes are frequently associated with peripheral neuropathy. Though there are multiple methods for diagnosis and analysis of morphological changes of peripheral nerves and blood vessels, three-dimensional high-resolution imaging is necessary to appreciate the pathogenesis with an anatomically recognizable branching morphogenesis and patterning. Read more Telomerase reverse transcriptase protects against Angiotensin II induced microvascular endothelial dysfunction
American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology
A rise in reactive oxygen species (ROS) may contribute to cardiovascular disease by reducing nitric oxide (NO) levels, leading to loss of NO's vasodilator and anti-inflammatory effects. Read more Akt2 Stabilizes ATP7A, a Copper Transporter for SOD3 (Extracellular Superoxide Dismutase), in Vascular Smooth Muscles: Novel Mechanism to Limit Endothelial Dysfunction in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology
Objective - Copper transporter ATP7A (copper-transporting/exporting ATPase) is required for full activation of SOD3 (extracellular superoxide dismutase), which is secreted from vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and anchors to endothelial cell surface to preserve endothelial function by scavenging extracellular superoxide. Read more Extracellular Vesicles Secreted by Atherogenic Macrophages Transfer MicroRNA to Inhibit Cell Migration
Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology
OBJECTIVE: During inflammation, macrophages secrete vesicles carrying RNA, protein, and lipids as a form of extracellular communication. In the vessel wall, extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been shown to be transferred between vascular cells during atherosclerosis; however, the role of macrophage-derived EVs in atherogenesis is not known. Read more Somatic Activating KRAS Mutations in Arteriovenous Malformations of the Brain
New England Journal of Medicine
Background - Sporadic arteriovenous malformations of the brain, which are morphologically abnormal connections between arteries and veins in the brain vasculature, are a leading cause of hemorrhagic stroke in young adults and children. Read more Mitochondrial Ca2+ transport in the endothelium: regulation by ions, redox signalling and mechanical forces
Journal of the Royal Society, Interface
Calcium (Ca2+) transport by mitochondria is an important component of the cell Ca2+ homeostasis machinery in metazoans. Read more The activin receptor is stimulated in the skeleton, vasculature, heart, and kidney during chronic kidney disease
Kidney International
The authors examined activin receptor type IIA (ActRIIA) activation in chronic kidney disease (CKD) by signal analysis and inhibition in mice with Alport syndrome using the ActRIIA ligand trap RAP-011 initiated in 75-day-old Alport mice. Read more Molecular and functional resemblance of differentiated cells derived from isogenic human iPSCs and SCNT-derived ESCs
PNAS
Patient-specific pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) can be derived by two nuclear reprogramming methods: somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) using unfertilized eggs and transcription factor-based reprogramming (i.e., induced pluripotent stem cells, iPSCs). Read more Three-dimensional forces exerted by leukocytes and vascular endothelial cells dynamically facilitate diapedesis
PNAS
Diapedesis is a key step in the innate immune response. Emerging evidence suggests that mechanical forces exerted by leukocytes and/or vascular endothelial cells (VECs) could play an important role during diapedesis. Read more Thy-1 dependent uptake of mesenchymal stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles blocks myofibroblastic differentiation
Scientific Reports
Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) have been promoted for multiple therapeutic applications. Many beneficial effects of MSCs are paracrine, dependent on extracellular vesicles (EVs). Read more Nanoparticle Functionalization with Platelet Membrane Enables Multifactored Biological Targeting and Detection of Atherosclerosis
ACS Nano
Cardiovascular disease represents one of the major causes of death across the global population. Atherosclerosis, one of its most common drivers, is characterized by the gradual buildup of arterial plaque over time, which can ultimately lead to life-threatening conditions. Read more |
Industry News (from the January 11 issue)
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Vascular pioneer Florence Sabin honored
The US National Academy of Sciences has celebrated the first Memoir Monday of 2018 by highlighting the life and work of Florence Sabin, the first woman elected to the NAS, the first to be a full professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and the first woman president of the American Association of Anatomists. Dr. Sabin's research overturned prevailing ideas about lymphatic development, by demonstrating that the lymphatic plexus grows outward from the veins.
Interventional cardiology: What will 2018 bring?
MedPage Today reports a list of clinical trials in interventional cardiology expected to yield results in the year just begun. Two trials, GLOBAL Leaders and TWILIGHT, may reveal whether anti-thrombotic therapy following Percutaneous Coronary Intervention can be simplified by omitting aspirin. These results should inform future loading strategies for drug-eluting stents. Other studies nearing completion are comparing medical therapy with percutaneous mitral repair for functional mitral regurgitation.
MicroRNAs in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia
Placenta
Ji et al. (2018) have examined the potential role of miR-136, a microRNA species overexpressed in preeclamptic decidua-derived mesenchymal stem cells compared with those from healthy donors, in MSC properties associated with development of preeclampsia. MiR-136 transfection into isolated MSCs significantly suppressed their proliferation, increased rates of apoptosis, and inhibited in vitro activities that mimic capillary tube formation and trophoblast cell invasion. The authors conclude that increased miR-136 in decidua-derived MSCs may participate in this cell type's contribution to preeclampsia.
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This month we are highlighting the lab of Dr. Henar Cuervo, who is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Find out more about Dr. Cuervo and her lab at 
