Major Topics of Training
Training will be provided in three interrelated areas of research in Cardiovascular Biology:
Vascular Biology: vascular smooth muscle and endothelial function and implications for hypertension and atherosclerosis, with emphasis on:
- The role of oxidative stress in vascular function and atherosclerosis (Drs. Cohen, Colucci, Freedman, Sam and Vita);
- Lipid metabolism and atherosclerosis (Drs. Ruderman, Akey, Atkinson, Corkey, Hamilton, Small, Costello and Zannis);
- The role of matrix proteins and connective tissues in vascular function (Drs. Morgan, Nugent, Schreiber, and Wong);
- Growth factors/signaling and angiogenesis in the vasculature (Drs. Kandror, Morgan, Nugent, Pilch, Ruderman, and Walsh);
- Adrenergic and adenosine receptors and ion channels in vascular function and hypertension (Drs. Bolotina Farrer and Ravid);
- Genetic mapping of hypertension genes (Drs. Farrer, Farber and Freedman);
- Diabetes-related vascular disease (Drs. Kandror, Genco, Pilch, Ruderman and Corkey);
- Vascular/Cardiac tissue regeneration (adult progenitors) (Drs. Walsh, Ravid, Farber).
Cardiac Biology: cardiac muscle function in hyperthrophy and ischemia, using physiological and pharmacological approaches with immediate clinical implications (Drs. Colucci, Lehman, Vita, Gokce and Sam).
Thrombosis: biochemical and genetic mechanisms of platelet function and their role in thrombosis and atherosclerosis (Drs. Cohen, Freedman and Ravid).
Experimental approaches provided during the training:
Molecular and Genetic approaches: This includes the use of transgenic/knock out mice and gene mapping, as well as molecular approaches involving areas such as transcriptional regulation, gene cloning and expression in cultured cells, and microarray analyses of genes in the cardiovascular system (Drs. Farber, Farrer, Freedman, Morgan, Smith, Ravid, Walsh, Colucci, Vita, and Zannis).
Physiological models and Histopathology: This involves models for ischemic reperfusion injury, myocardial infarction and hypertension. Infarcted cardiac tissue or diseased vessels are subjected to histopathology evaluation aided by the experienced Pathology lab at BUSM. Opportunities for learning tissue processing, cryosectioning or other related approaches, and for data interpretation are available via this core and our experienced faculty (Drs. Cohen, Colucci, Walsh, Bolotina, Corkey, Farber, Morgan and Vita).
Cellular and Biochemical approaches: This includes areas such as metabolism, protein purification, enzyme kinetics, signaling development of polymer-based drug delivery, cell cycle and signaling studies (Drs. Akey, Kandror, Nugent, Pilch, Ravid, Ruderman, Smith, Atkinson, Corkey, Costello, Freedman, Hamilton, Schreiber, Small, Zannis and Wong).
