April 13, 2017
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April 22, 2017
Meetings

Lymphatic Forum
in Chicago, IL
June 8-10, 20 17

Vasculata 2017
Chicago, IL 
July 24-27, 2017
Abstract deadline: June 1 

 
Vascular Biology
Monterey, CA  
October 15-19, 2017
Abstract deadline: Aug 1 


20th IVBM
Helsinki, Finland
June 3-7, 2018 
Corporate Partners
Corporate Members
Affiliated Journals
Cardiovascular Medicine
VB 2017 Supporters
IVBM Supporters
Diamond Level
Welcome Reception Host


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Strategic Partners

Meet the Professor Breakfasts Supported by

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Contributors
March for Science is April 22!!
Join a March
A s you know, the March for Science is next Saturday, April 22.  We encourage you to attend one of the marches - there are over 400 across the globe!

To register for a March, go to
https://www.marchforscience.com/rsvp .

Let us know if you are going - take this really quick survey

June 1 Deadlines for Trainees
NAVBO Continues to Support Travel Awards to the GRC
This year NAVBO will support two travel awards, $500US each, to the Angiogenesis Gordon Research Conference organized by NAVBO members Drs. Shahin Rafii and Hellmut Augustin.  You and your PI must be NAVBO members in order to be eligible for the award.  Click here for details.
Vasculata 2017 Scholarships
Scholarships to attend Vasculata at the University of Illinois, Chicago (July 24-27) will be awarded based on need - for those who wish to attend but do not have funding available within their department or institution. Applicants must be at some training level (undergraduate, graduate or medical students, postdoctoral fellows, residents, PhD students, etc.).  

Applications will be accepted online only and are due by June 1.  This deadline will be strictly adhered to.

The number of scholarships will be based on available funding, the value is yet to be determined but at a minimum will cover housing in the UIC dorms and registration. Go to http://www.navbo.org/events/vasculata-2017/scholarships for more details and to apply.
Lab of the Month
The Lab of Dr. Benjamin Hogan This month we are highlighting the lab of Dr. Benjamin Hogan, who is an Associate Professor at the University of Queensland, Australia. Find out more about Dr. Hogan and his lab at http://www.navbo.org/membership/members-labs/601-lab042017.
Spotlight on Trainees
Graduate Training Presents Both Physical and Mental Challenges
Elizabeth Pain, Science magazine's contributing editor for Europe, describes results of a recent study conducted in Belgium that suggests nearly a third of Ph.D. students are at risk of having or developing a common psychiatric disorder such as depression.  The study involved a relatively small sample of students, largely in the sciences and social sciences, but the findings are consistent with a growing body of information on mental health issues in academia. Study co-authors Katia Levecque and Frederik Anseel of Ghent University encourage Ph.D. students to appreciate the importance of careful self-awareness, to know that they are not alone in their responses to a stressful situation, and to seek help when struggling.
Member News
The research of Dr. Brant Weinstein, Senior Investigator at the NICHD and organizer of numerous NAVBO workshops, is featured in a recent news release from the NIH. Dr. Weinstein and his colleagues in the Section on Vertebrate Organogenesis have published in eLIFE findings in zebrafish that implicate a novel family of perivascular cells in creation and maintenance of the blood-brain barrier. Intriguingly, these cells, which resemble perivascular macrophages or so-called 'Mato Cells' in mammals, appear to emerge by transdifferentiation from endothelium of the optic choroidal vascular plexus, and as such would represent the first described perivascular cell population in the brain derived from vascular endothelium.
Welcome to our New Members:
Peter Baluk, University of California San Francisco
Amrita Dasgupta, Hampton University
Laura Gutierrez, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ)
Vivian Lee, Washington University in St. Louis
Somin Lee, Seoul National University
Dong Li, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Shan Liao, University of Calgary
Susan Thomas, Georgia Institute of Technology
Terry Watnick, University of Maryland School of Medicine
Shann Yu, University of Chicago
 Recent Publications by NAVBO Members

Glycemic Control with Ipragliflozin, a Novel Selective SGLT2 Inhibitor, Ameliorated Endothelial Dysfunction in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Mouse
Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine
Endothelial dysfunction caused by increased oxidative stress is a critical initiator of macro- and micro-vascular disease development in diabetic patients. Ipragliflozin, a selective sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor, offers a novel approach for the treatment of diabetes by enhancing urinary glucose excretion.  Read more 

 

On the Functional Role of Valve Interstitial Cell Stress Fibers: A Continuum Modeling Approach
Journal of Biomechanical Engineering
The function of the heart valve interstitial cells (VICs) is intimately connected to heart valve tissue remodeling and repair, as well as the onset and progression of valvular pathological processes. There is yet only very limited knowledge and extant models for the complex three-dimensional VIC internal stress-bearing structures, the associated cell-level biomechanical behaviors, and how they change under varying activation levels.  Read more 

 

Mitral valve leaflet remodelling during pregnancy: insights into cell-mediated recovery of tissue homeostasis
Journal of The Royal Society Interface
Little is known about how valvular tissues grow and remodel in response to altered loading. In this work, we used the pregnancy state to represent a non-pathological cardiac volume overload that distends the mitral valve (MV), using both extant and new experimental data and a modified form of our MV structural constitutive model.  Read more 

 

Heart Valve Biomechanics and Underlying Mechanobiology
Comprehensive Physiology
Heart valves control unidirectional blood flow within the heart during the cardiac cycle. They have a remarkable ability to withstand the demanding mechanical environment of the heart, achieving lifetime durability by processes involving the ongoing remodeling of the extracellular matrix.  Read more 

 

Combined Intravital Microscopy and Contrast-enhanced Ultrasonography of the Mouse Hindlimb to Study Insulin-induced Vasodilation and Muscle Perfusion
Journal of Visualized Experiments
It has been demonstrated that insulin's vascular actions contribute to regulation of insulin sensitivity. Insulin's effects on muscle perfusion regulate postprandial delivery of nutrients and hormones to insulin-sensitive tissues.  Read more 

 

Lack of evidence for tissue hypoxia as a contributing factor in anastomotic leak following colon anastomosis and segmental devascularization in rats
International Journal of Colorectal Disease
Current surgical dogma dictates that tissue ischemia and hypoxia are major contributing factors in anastomotic leak despite scant evidence. The aim of this study was to determine if tissue hypoxia is a feature of anastomotic leakage in rats following colon resection and segmental devascularization.  Read more 

 

Platelet secretion is crucial to prevent bleeding in the ischemic brain but not in the inflamed skin or lung in mice
Blood
Platelets maintain hemostasis after injury, but also during inflammation. Recent studies have shown that platelets prevent inflammatory bleeding through (hem) immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motif-dependent mechanisms irrespective of aggregation during skin and lung inflammation.  Read more 

 

Inhibition of Smooth Muscle β-Catenin Hinders Neointima Formation After Vascular Injury
Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology
Smooth muscle cells (SMCs) contribute to neointima formation after vascular injury. Although β-catenin expression is induced after injury, whether its function is essential in SMCs for neointimal growth is unknown.  Read more 

 

VEGF165-induced vascular permeability requires NRP1 for ABL-mediated SRC family kinase activation
Journal of Experimental Medicine
The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) isoform VEGF165 stimulates vascular growth and hyperpermeability. Whereas blood vessel growth is essential to sustain organ health, chronic hyperpermeability causes damaging tissue edema.  Read more 

Industry News
Cardiovascular events (not of the clinical variety!) planned for EB2017
The annual Experimental Biology meeting ( EB2017), this year combining FASEB member societies focused on anatomy, biochemistry and molecular biology, investigative pathology, nutrition, pharmacology, and physiology, opens April 22 in Chicago. An abundance of programming of interest to vascular biologists has been scheduled, including a lecture by Nobel Laureate Louis Ignarro of the UCLA School of Medicine recounting his research on the "endothelium-derived relaxing factor" that led him and co-laureates Robert F. Furchgott and Ferid Murad to Stockholm. Also featured during the meeting will be Berne Lecturer Dr. Benjamin D. Levine from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas and Wiggers Awardee Dr. Gerd Heusch of the University of Essen Medical School in Germany.

Reduction in Angiopoietin-like 3 associated with reduced risk for coronary artery disease
Investigators at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report that loss of function mutations in the angiopoietin-like 3 (ANGPTL3) gene were linked to lower serum triglycerides, LDL cholesterol, and reduced risk of heart disease. Study authors note that their result "...adds ANGPTL3 to the list of therapeutic targets for coronary disease, which includes ANGPTL4, APOC3, LPA, NPC1L1, and PCSK9, that have been validated by finding loss-of-function mutations that associate with protection from disease, highlighting the promise and potential of human genetic studies in identifying such targets." An endogenous inhibitor of lipoprotein lipase, ANGPTL3 acts to clear triglyceride-rich lipoproteins from the bloodstream; it remains to be determined how ANGPTL3 regulates LDL-cholesterol metabolism and whether its role can be targeted therapeutically.

Roles of chemokines in arteriogenic responses to distal limb ischemia
Research conducted in the Netherlands using mouse strains that restore blood flow poorly (BALB/c) or well (C57BL/6) after hindlimb ischemia has implicated chemokine genes Ccl19, Ccl21a, and Ccl21c and the chemokine receptor CCR7 as potential mediators of the more robust response in C57BL/6 mice. Equal numbers of α-smooth muscle actin-positive collateral arteries were found in the adductor muscles of both mouse strains, but collateral diameters were smaller in CCR7-/-/LDLR-/- mice. The authors conclude that the CCR7-CCL19/CCL21 axis facilitates retention CD4+ T lymphocytes at the site of collateral artery remodeling, viewed as crucial for effective arteriogenesis.
Job Postings
Job Title
Company
Location
Yale University
New Haven, CT
Associate/Full Professor
University of Toronto-IBBME
Toronto, Ontario
University of Toronto - IBBME
Toronto, Ontario
University of Toronto-IBBME
Toronto, Ontario
Alpert Medical School at Brown University
Providence, RI
Calendar of Events
May 8-12, 2017
Keystone Symposia Conference - Angiogenesis and Vascular Disease
May 19-20, 2017
The 9th Charleston Symposium on Vascular Anomalies
May 29 - June 1, 2017
ESM/EVBO 2017 Meeting Geneva
June 8-10, 2017
Lymphatic Forum 2017
June 8-11, 2017
12th HHT International Scientific Conference
July 8-13, 2017
International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis 2017 Congress
July 24-27, 2017
Vasculata 2017
Aug. 11-14, 2017
2017 APS Conference: Cardiovascular Aging, New Frontiers and Old Friends
Oct. 15-19, 2017
Vascular Biology 2017
June 4-7, 2018
20th International Vascular Biology Meeting
Advocating for Science
Contacting Your Representatives Can Make a Difference for Science
If you are a U.S. citizen, let your U.S. representatives hear from you and encourage them to be advocating for science. There are many methods by which to reach out -  from attending meetings or personal visits to congressional offices, to doing something as simple as writing a postcard.  Be sure to reach out to your district and state representatives. Now, in addition to funding the NIH budget and other federal biomedical research budgets, scientists must clearly express how other policies impact scientific collaboration, a key component in the scientific process.

Here are links to organizations that encourage, support and aid science advocates:
Coalition for the Life Sciences
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB)
Research!America

If you are aware  of other groups, please let us know and we will post them in future newsletter issues (send to info@navbo.org). 
North American Vascular Biology Organization | bernadette@navbo.org | http://www.navbo.org
18501 Kingshill Road
Germantown, MD 20874-2211