NAVBO members can attend Experimental Biology 2021 as guests of the American Society for Investigative Pathology. You'll want to attend the NAVBO session organized by William Muller, Northwestern University

Tuesday, April 27 from 2:00 to 5:00pm EST

Virtually all pathology involves inflammation, and inflammation requires a functioning vascular system. The interactions of leukocytes with cells and components of the vasculature are critical for the natural progression and resolution of inflammation. This session will start with a symposium highlighting some new developments in our understanding of the mechanisms that promote migration of leukocytes into inflamed tissue, and the consequences of those interactions for the promotion and regression of inflammation. This will be followed by an extended discussion involving audience members as well as the speakers to put these findings into context with each other and with other developments in the field. We hope that this conversation will elicit critical questions for future research.

Please join us!

Register for the meeting here.

Join us for our next webinar on February 18 at 1:00pmET featuring Karen Hirschi, University of Virginia. Her presentation is titled "Regulation of Endothelial Cell Specialization"

For more details and to register,

On March 4, we will welcome Guillermo Oliver of Northwestern University.  His presentation is titled, "Lymphatics in organ growth and repair." More information is here

Mark your calendars for these webinars. And bookmark this page on our web site for more exciting 2021 webinars: https://www.navbo.org/events/webinars.

"Arterialization requires the timely suppression of cell growth" 

Authors: Wen Luo, Irene Garcia-Gonzalez, Macarena Fernández-Chacón, Verónica Casquero-Garcia, Maria S Sanchez-Muñoz, Severin Mühleder, Lourdes Garcia-Ortega, Jorge Andrade, Michael Potente, Rui Benedito

Nature 589, 437–441 (2021).

Journal Clubs are limited to active/current NAVBO members. The registration link can be found in the Journal Club's forum on our web site:  https://www.navbo.org/forum/02-21journal-club. You can also post comments, questions, etc. here before the presentation so that they can be addressed during the presentation and of course following the presentation to continue the conversation.

The NAVBO Education Committee reached out to interview several senior members of the Vascular Biology community to get their thoughts on a variety of key questions regarding how they pursue their science and choices they have made along their paths to professional success. We will be providing regular installments of the diverse perspectives from different individuals to share how some of our Vascular Biology Leaders have learned some of their Lessons. This will be an ongoing series and we hope to connect with more Leaders in the future!

In this issue, we asked Senior Scientists to respond to the question: How do you stay efficient with splintered time?

Patricia D’Amore, Senior Scientist, Schepens Eye Research Institute; Director, Howe Laboratory; Associate Chief for Opthalmology Basic and Translational Research, Massachusetts Eye and Ear; Charles L. Schepens Professor of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School

That's a good question! I can't sit and write for three hours, but if I know I need more time than a 45-minute window, I might put in three hours in my calendar. Then, I break that up by working for 40 minutes and then doing something else for 20 minutes. If I know I'm doing a writing project that's going to require me looking at the literature a lot and going back and forth to writing, I definitely make sure I have blocks of time set aside in my calendar. Otherwise, you start to get your momentum going and then you have to stop for another task. It's very frustrating and then, for me, it's very hard to get back to it. I try to give myself enough time. I look further ahead to plan and I'll put several hours in my calendar, knowing full well that I'm going to take breaks in the middle of it. For example, I know that I can edit something in 45 minutes, but I will block out more time so that it is not available for other people to schedule over. The key is that you have to respect what you put in your calendar and finish the task. That helps you figure out how to say “no” if you have a deadline coming up and you have a lot of writing to do. If you know it's going to take you 10 hours and you have those blocked out in your calendar; giving those times up for other tasks is a bad idea. Because when else are you going to get it done? I am an obsessive list maker and what really helps me is breaking bigger projects into smaller projects. If I am working on the preliminary data section of a grant and that's going to take 9 hours, I will put “write about figure one” on my list. That’s doable in one hour because I broke it down to small enough projects. I have also tried to keep Fridays open as much as possible and not schedule things on Fridays unless I have no choice. That gives me big blocks of time to do things that are time-consuming. I try to force all the other commitments into the rest of the week and make good use of my calendar to protect my time. Then once you put something in the calendar, mean it….if the calendar item is “work on the introduction”, then write the introduction so that you are accountable to yourself.

Jan Kitajewski, Professor and Head of Department of Physiology and Biophysics, College of Medicine at Chicago; Director, University of Illinois Cancer Center

Shulamit Levenberg, Ph.D., Professor and Former Dean, Biomedical Engineering Department

Robert Mecham, Alumni Endowed Professor of Cell Biology and Physiology, Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics and Bioengineering, Washington School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Michelle Bendeck, Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto and Translational Biology and Engineering Program, Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research.

This is hard, and I read some of the early career research blogs and listen to podcasts on that because I think that the next generation coming up has a much better handle on that than I have. Right now, I’m trying to allocate blocks of time to certain tasks. For example, I spend Monday morning catching up on e-mail that I did not deal with the week before, and delegating tasks to urgent and not urgent to-do lists. During the pandemic, it has been helpful to book meetings on only two or three days of the week. If I have half an hour between Zoom meetings, I will pick a small task, like dealing with a financial problem or paying a bill. This leaves the remaining days for bigger projects that require more focus, for example revising a manuscript, or writing reference letters. If I am working on writing grants or manuscripts, I try to reserve several days at a time mainly for that. This is the hardest to do, because I cannot always think on schedule. So I start that process by completing some of the busywork, filling in the forms, updating my CV etc. But when I am writing a grant I never really escape it, I think about it day and night.

Joyce Bischoff, Ph.D., Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School; Research Associate, Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital; Principal Investigator, Surgery and Vascular Biology Program, Boston Children's Hospital

This may sound very basic, but I actually print out, in big bold font, the four or five things or deadlines I really want to get done in the next month or so, maybe it's a grant or manuscript. I think we all have a tendency to do the easy things on the ‘to-do’ list, check them off and feel good about getting maybe 10 checked off in a day, but they each only take two to five minutes to accomplish. That’s a good way to spend splintered time, but you want to make progress on the big items too. I tape my list of big things to my monitor so that it’s always there in sight; and I update it every month or so. When I’ve got an hour or two here and there, I can decide to use that time to write the cover letter for the manuscript or figure out if I'm going to suggest reviewers, etc. I’m always trying to use these small blocks of time to target what’s on my list. The small blocks are obviously not big enough to write a whole grant but keeping goals at the forefront, and working on smaller aspects, adds up in the long run.

Victoria Bautch, Ph.D., Beverly Long Chapin Distinguished Professor, Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Co- Director of McAllister Heart Institute

First, I block out unsplintered chunks of time in my calendar. For me it's better if it's the same time every week. Even more with the pandemic, I try not to over schedule things or schedule anything if I can help it for two days a week. The other days do get loaded up and a bit hectic. Then, I try to use those days to really work on my reading, on my papers or things that require more than 15 minutes of effort to get done. It's not perfect, but it helps because there’s so many things that have deadlines and don't take very much time, but when you aggregate them all together, you can use up every waking minute of your time just doing all the busy work. Also, having these blocks of time to talk to somebody and completely focus your brain (i.e. not multi-task), then have time to think about what I learned from that conversation really helps. Again, it's not perfect, but that's what I do: block off time. I would also say to think about the things that don't really take much time or brain effort and then try, to the extent that you can, fit them into those broken up bits of time.

This month we are highlighting the lab of Dr. Clint Miller, who is an Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia. Find out more about Dr. Miller's lab at https://www.navbo.org/membership/members-labs/976-lab022021

In his February 1 Open Mike blog post, NIH OER Director Michael Lauer summarized career development grant outcomes of more than 35,000 T32 trainees who began their postdoctoral training between 1995 and 2009 after receiving an MD, MD-PhD, or PhD degree. Among all trainees followed, 12%, served as PI on an R01-equivalent award during the follow-up period. Of those who served as PI on a K award, a striking 42%, later served as PI on an R01-equivalent award. Conversely, among those who were not PIs on a K award, only 8% later served as PI on an R01-equivalent award. The detailed report further breaks down the findings according to gender and other characteristics.

The PRIDE Summer Institute Program in Cardiovascular Disease Comorbidities, Genetics and Epidemiology to Increase Diversity Among Individuals Engaged in Health-Related Research is now accepting applications. Space is limited for the 2021 mentored summer training programs so apply early!

Eligible applicants are junior-level faculty or scientists with a background that is under-represented in the biomedical or health sciences, and are United States Citizens or Permanent Residents. Research interests should be compatible with those of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in the prevention and treatment of heart, lung, blood, and sleep (HLBS) disorders.

Our All-Expense paid Summer Institute program with effective mentored training opportunities to enhance the research skills and to promote the scientific and career development of trainees with a research interest in Cardiovascular disease Comorbidities, Genetics and Epidemiology.

Trainees will learn effective strategies for preparing, submitting and obtaining external grant funding for research, including extensive tips on best practices.

Jordon Aragon, University of Virginia

Shelby Cain, University of Virginia

Rio Sugimura, University of Hong Kong

If you have news to share with your colleagues, send it to membership@navbo.org

Endothelial tip cells are essential for VEGF‐induced angiogenesis, but underlying mechanisms are elusive. The Ena/VASP protein family, consisting of EVL, VASP, and Mena, plays a pivotal role in axon guidance. Given that axonal growth cones and endothelial tip cells share many common features, from the morphological to the molecular level, we investigated the role of Ena/VASP proteins in angiogenesis. Read more

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative virus for the current global pandemic known as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). SARS-CoV-2 belongs to the family of single-stranded RNA viruses known as coronaviruses, including the MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV that cause Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), respectively. Read more

Cells derived from pluripotent sources in vitro must resemble those found in vivo as closely as possible at both transcriptional and functional levels in order to be a useful tool for studying diseases and developing therapeutics. Read more

Active perception of angiogenesis: filopodia speed up Notch selection of tip cells in silico and in vivo

How do cells make efficient collective decisions during tissue morphogenesis? Humans and other organisms use feedback between movement and sensing known as ‘sensorimotor coordination’ or ‘active perception’ to inform behaviour, but active perception has not before been investigated at a cellular level within organs.  Read more

Endothelial S1P1 Signaling Counteracts Infarct Expansion in Ischemic Stroke

Cerebrovascular function is critical for brain health, and endogenous vascular protective pathways may provide therapeutic targets for neurological disorders. S1P (Sphingosine 1-phosphate) signaling coordinates vascular functions in other organs, and S1P1 (S1P receptor-1) modulators including fingolimod show promise for the treatment of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke.  Read more

Collaborative Research Award - Designed for team research that requires involvement of multiple institutions or muIti-disciplinary researchers. Applications that involve current LF grantees receive priority review. Up to $250,000 over two years.

Proof of Concept Award - Designed to support development of preliminary data for highly innovative hypotheses. Open to investigators of any career stage or background. Successful awards are eligible for streamlined award renewal. Up to $125,000 for one year

Mentored Award - Designed to support postdoctoral research experiences for candidates in non-independent mentored research training. Intended to support PhD (or equivalent research degrees) and clinicians engaged in mentored medical research. Up to $70,000 for two years

For questions regarding this RFP, please contact the Lipedema Foundation staff by email at awards@lipedema.org.

All applications must be submitted through the Lipedema Foundation research submission portal. 

Please visit their website to find the link to the submission portal. 

Lipedema is a chronic condition that occurs almost exclusively in women and manifests as symmetrical buildup of painful fat and swelling in the limbs, sparing the hands and feet. The American College of Cardiology, in a recent revision of key conditions encountered by practicing vascular specialists, recognizes lipedema as a separate entity from the lymphatic disorders with which has normally been grouped. The report may not only influence specialty training but also spark trainees’ interest in research into improved lipedema diagnostics and treatment options. You can read more here about this recognition as well the Lipedema Foundation’s 2021 Request for Proposals in support of lipedema research. 

While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt all aspects of life across the US and around the world, and scientists public policy experts alike labor to scale up vaccine manufacturing, production, allocation, and distribution. As the pandemic lingers, the new Biden administration, in league with state and local officials, must make difficult choices about how to balance public health priorities with other critical societal functions. In support of these efforts, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine have deployed expertise in numerous disciplines to help the nation and the world respond and recover. A recent report from the National Academies outlines a four-phased framework to vaccine allocation that is guided by evidence on how to reduce deaths, prioritize vulnerable populations, and maximize societal benefit. 

Scientific publisher Springer Nature announces the launch of a new toolkit with which researchers can maximize the societal impact of their research. This resource was created in partnership with the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU), Dutch University Libraries and the National Library Consortium (UKB), supplemented by results of a survey of over 9,000 researchers representing different disciplines. The toolkit provides tips on selecting the channels best suited to reaching a target audience inside or outside academia, as well as approaches to assessing the impact of your outreach efforts. Available resources include interviews with senior researchers, sample impact plans for early career researchers, and insights on motivations, perceptions and actions to achieve maximum societal relevance in your field of research.

Putting Engineering Back in Vascular Tissue Engineering to Advance Basic Science and Clinical Applications

Manuscript submission deadline has been extended; for more information, click here.

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Calendar of Events

Brigham and Women's Hospital

Boston, MA

University of South Florida

Tampa, FL

University of California, San Francisco

San Francisco, CA

City of Hope

Los Angeles, CA

Cincinnati Children's Hospital

Cincinnati, OH

Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation

Oklahoma City, OK

April 27-30, 2021

Virtual & Interactive

May 31-June 5, 2021

Virtual Event from Georgia Tech

July 13-15, 2021

Virtual Event from Boston

October 24-28, 2021

Monterey, California, USA

October 24-27, 2021

Kyoto, Japan