August 18, 2016 
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Lymphatic Forum
in Chicago, IL
June 8-10, 2017


Vascular Biology 2017
Monterey, CA
October 15-19 
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Meet our New Council Members
Jason Fish, Ph.D., Councilor
Scientist, Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, University Health Network
Associate Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology,
University of Toronto
Canada Research Chair in Vascular Cell and Molecular Biology

 
Dr. Jason Fish received a BSc in Biology and Chemistry from Wilfrid Laurier University and a PhD in the Department of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Dr. Philip Marsden. He completed postdoctoral training at the Gladstone Institutes of Cardiovascular Disease and the University of California San Francisco under the supervision of Dr. Deepak Srivastava. In 2010, Dr. Fish returned to Toronto to join the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute as a Scientist.
 
The Fish lab investigates the molecular mechanisms that control endothelial cell biology. His lab is seeking to decipher the signaling pathways and downstream transcriptional mediators that control responses to differentiation signals (e.g. artery/vein specification and angiogenesis) as well as pro-inflammatory factors. Their lab has identified important roles for noncoding RNAs such as microRNAs in modulating signaling pathways in endothelial cells, including the identification of the microRNAs that control angiogenesis, inflammation and heart development. They recently demonstrated that endothelial cells can communicate with monocytes via microRNA transfer.
 
Dr. Fish received the Springer Junior Investigator Award from NAVBO, a Young Investigator Award from the Canadian Cardiovascular Society, an Early Researcher Award from the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation, and is the Canada Research Chair in Vascular Cell and Molecular Biology.
Exciting NHLBI Sponsored Session at IVBM
"E pluribus Unum: The Vasculome"
(IVBM 2016 Workshop and Open Forum)

The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) is organizing a workshop and discussion forum open to the entire audience of IVBM 2016 to explore the timeliness of creating "The Vasculome," an integrated, multi-dimensional, multi-scale map of the human vasculature.

 

Workshop discussions will seek to identify opportunities to address some key enduring challenges in the way of integrating traditional and state-of-the-art knowledge and investigational tools from various areas of vascular biology, including answering specific questions such as:

  • What are the challenges remaining in the way of multidimensional investigations (-omics, imaging, physiology) of vascular cells down to the single cell level in their natural microenvironments, including challenges in sampling, in situ technologies, etc.?
  • What strategic approaches can be used to integrate biological, technological, and computational advances to produce multiscale, multidimensional vascular maps for the purpose of understanding the complex dynamic short and long range interactions among various vascular cells, and their communications with other cell types within various tissue "vascular units" (e.g., with the brain, heart, kidney, etc.) and at the whole body level?
  • Could we perhaps use the endothelium as the organizing principle of the "Vasculome"? We are looking forward to the vascular community participation and to great discussions during and following this workshop!
More information is available on our web site at http://ivbm2016.org/program/symposia - click on National Lung, Heart and Blood Institute

19th International Vascular Biology Meeting 
Boston - October 30-November 3

www.ivbm2016.org 

Register online through October 28
(onsite registration will be available, late fee will apply)
Hotel reservations - October 8
Member News
Welcome our new members:
Redouane Aherrahrou, University of Virginia
John-Michael Arpino, Robart's Research Institute, Western University
Ashim Bagchi, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Brittany Balint, Robart's Research Institute, Western University
Sanchita Basu, Case Western Reserve University
Vijay Avin BR, University of Illinois at Chicago
Shilpa Chakravartula, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Deya Cherpokova, Boston Children's Hospital
Reyhaan Chaudhri, University of Illinois at Chicago
Jaesung Choi, Centenary Institute
Yunzhou Dong, Boston Children's Hospital
Jing Du, Columbia University
Kristina Haase, MIT
Simona Hankeova, Karolinska Institutet
Abigail Healy, Providence VA Medical Center
Ru-Ting Huang, University of Chicago
Armand Jaminon, Maastricht University
Enis Kostallari, Mayo Clinic
Andrew Kuo, Yale University
Desiree Leach, University of South Carolina School of Medicine
Qing Lin, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Sizhao Lu, University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus
Corina Marziano, University of Virginia
Albertomaria Moro, Yale University School of Medicine
Myung-Jin Oh, University of Chicago
Amanda Pellowe, Yale University
Duc T. Phan, University of California, Irvine 
Mariana Pinto, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Marpadga Reddy, Beckman Res Institute of City of Hope
Emma Ristori, Yale University
Felipe Serrano, University of Cambridge
Rayees Rafiq Sheikh, University of Illinois at Chicago
Dheeraj Soni, University of Illinois at Chicago
Matthew Spite, Brigham & Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School 
Keith Strand, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Robert Szulcek, VU University Medical Center
Nozomu Takata, Northwestern University
Alexander Turaihi, VUmc
Rick van Gorp, Maastricht University
Pilar Villacampa Alcubierre, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology
Josephin Wagner, University Hospital Zurich
David Wu, University of Chicago
Hao Wu, Boston Children's Hospital at Harvard Medical School
Jill Wylie-Sears, Boston Children's Hospital
Pascal Yazbeck, University of Illinois at Chicago
Pingzhu Zhou, Boston Children's Hospital

If you have news to share with your colleagues, send it to membership@navbo.org.
Spotlight on Trainees
NIH Examines Trainee Opportunities and Experiences in the Life Sciences
NAVBO Newsletter Editor Bill Huckle sat down recently with P. Kay Lund, Ph.D., Director, NIH Division of Biomedical Research Workforce (established in 2015 within the NIH Office of Extramural Research/Office of Extramural Programs) to learn about efforts at the NIH to take the measure of trainee opportunities and experiences in the life sciences.

NAVBO: What are the circumstances that have made the workforce initiative a top priority right now?

P. Kay Lund: There were two reports produced by advisory groups to Francis Collins, the Director of the NIH. One was the Biomedical Research Workforce Report (2012), and the second was the Physician Scientist Workforce Report (2014). Those reports indicated that we needed a clearer picture of the biomedical research workforce. We knew about trainees supported on training grants and fellowships funded through the NIH, but many post-docs and pre-docs are funded on R01-type research grants or non-NIH sources of support. The existing information did not fully inform about how scientists were being trained and supported and where they were going after that. Also there is limited information about career paths of those who leave the NIH-funded workforce.
Both reports recommended that an office be set up within the Office of the Director, to better assess the biomedical research workforce, how NIH-funded trainees fit into that workforce, and then try to improve tracking outcomes and career paths of the trainees... [Full text of Dr. Lund's interview can be accessed   here and is included in the NAVBO Summer 2016 print newsletter.]

 Recent Publications by NAVBO Members
Blue Rubber Bleb Nevus (BRBN) Syndrome is caused by Somatic TEK (TIE2) Mutations
Journal of Investigative Dermatology
Blue Rubber Bleb Nevus syndrome (Bean syndrome, BRBN) is a rare, severe disorder of unknown cause, characterized by numerous cutaneous and internal venous malformations (VMs); gastrointestinal lesions are pathognomonic. The authors discovered somatic mutations in TEK, the gene encoding TIE2, in 15 of 17 individuals with BRBN.  Read more

VEGF-A acts via PDGFRα to promote viability of cells enduring hypoxia

Molecular and Cellular Biology.
Vascular endothelial cells growth factor A (VEGF) is a biologically and therapeutically important growth factor because it promotes angiogenesis in response to hypoxia, which underlies a wide variety of both physiological and pathological settings. Herein we report that both VEGF receptor 2 (VEGFR2)-positive, and -negative cells depended on VEGF to endure hypoxia. VEGF enhanced the viability of platelet-derived growth factor receptor α (PDGFRα)-positive/VEGFR2-negative cells by enabling indirect activation of PDGFRα and thereby reducing the level of p53. We conclude that the breadth of VEGF's influence extends beyond VEGFR-positive cells, and propose a plausible mechanistic explanation of this phenomenon.  Read more

MYOSLID Is a Novel Serum Response Factor-Dependent Long Noncoding RNA That Amplifies the Vascular Smooth Muscle Differentiation Program
Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology
The authors demonstrated that MYOSLID, the first human VSMC-selective and serum response factor/CArG-dependent lncRNA, is a novel modulator in amplifying the VSMC differentiation program, likely through feed-forward actions of both MKL1 and transforming growth factor-β/SMAD pathways.  Read more

Resolvin D2 Enhances Post-Ischemic Revascularization While Resolving Inflammation
Circulation 
Resolvins are lipid mediators generated by leukocytes during the resolution phase of inflammation. They have been shown to regulate the transition from inflammation to tissue repair.  The authors concluded that RvD2 stimulates arteriogenic revascularization during HLI suggesting that resolvins may be a novel class of mediators that both resolve inflammation and promote arteriogenesis.
Read More
Job Postings
Job Title
Company
Location
University of Texas MD Anderson
Houston, TX
Postdoctoral Scholar
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA
Yale University School of Medicine
New Haven, CT
Postdoctoral Fellow
Blood Center of Wisconsin
Milwaukee, WI
Yale University
New Haven, CT
Calendar of Events
Sept. 7-10 ISACB - 15th Biennial Meeting
Sept. 26-28 Perspectives in Vascular Biology
Oct. 30 - Nov. 3 19th International Vascular Biology Meeting
Nov. 13-16 American Society for Matrix Biology Biennial Meeting
June 8 - 10 Lymphatic Forum 2017
Oct. 15-19 Vascular Biology 2017
Industry News
"Cupping" makes its mark on US Olympic swimmers
Television viewers of the swimming competition at the 2016 Rio Olympics got numerous good looks at the aftereffects of "cupping," a venerable healing technique of Chinese origin. The telltale purple spots left by the practice, which involves application of suction to the skin of the ... cuppee?... using a heated or evacuated cup, reflect the rupture of superficial capillaries. Enthusiasts point to benefits derived from enhanced local blood flow and accelerated recovery of muscles driven to exhaustion by, say, cranking through 200 meters of butterfly in well under two minutes. Skeptics maintain otherwise, but it's difficult to envision the design of the double-blind, placebo-controlled study that would settle the question.

High-resolution MRI of scalp arteries for diagnosis of giant cell arteritis
Arthritis and Rheumatology
Giant cell arteritis is a disorder of arteries of the head and neck associated with inflammation of the vasa vasorum. Canadian investigators report results of a prospective cohort study examining the utility of MR imaging of arteries in the scalp as an alternative means of screening patients for giant cell arteritis. The authors suggest that normal MRI findings may spare patients the more invasive approach of biopsy.

Data Sharing: Yea or Nay?
As reported in Cardiobrief, strong and conflicting opinions abound regarding the prospect of mandatory sharing of detailed results from clinical trials and other studies required to translate research findings into medically-useful therapies. Four papers in the August 4 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine examine the pros and cons. Leaders of the Yale Open Data Access Project argue that the potential social benefits and cost savings attendant to data sharing should fuel efforts to overcome acknowledged obstacles associated with patient privacy and non-uniformity of study design. On the other hand, the International Consortium of Investigators for Fairness in Trial Data Sharing, warns of risks of "...misleading or inaccurate analyses and analyses aimed at unfairly discrediting or undermining the original publication."
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