Sections
Vascular Biology
Centers
Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute
Biography
Welcome to Dr. Han’s lab, part of the Vascular Biology Section/Department of Medicine,Whitaker Cardiovascular Research Institute, and Sargent College at Boston University. We study the molecular mechanisms of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease with a particular focus on the role of redox signaling in vascular endothelial cell dysfunction in response to various risk factors including hyperlipidemia, aging, and chronic alcohol abuse, which are supported by NIH grants. (National Heart Lung and Blood Institute—R01HL137771, National Institute of Aging—R21AG058983, and National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism—R21AA026922) Animal models of atherosclerosis, vascular aging, and chronic binge drinking have been established, and conditional tissue specific transgenic and knockout mice strains are employed to decipher the in vivo role of thiol redox signaling in vascular dysfunction and development of atherosclerosis. Isolated endothelial cells from human subjects with cardiovascular disease and cultured human aortic endothelial cells, as well redox proteomics and various molecular biology methods are used to elucidate the molecular mechanism underlying redox regulation of endothelial function. (Representative publication: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5045950/pdf/main.pdf).
In addition to understanding the molecular mechanism of atherosclerosis, our research interests also lie in developing multidisciplinary approach to measuring vascular function in murine animals, and to targeted delivery of nanomedicine to cardiovascular system. We have developed a novel optical coherence tomography-based vascular imaging system enabling to real-time measure 3D angiography and hemodynamics of femoral artery of mouse models in vivo, which is noninvasive, label-free, contact-free, and high degree of automation in data acquisition and processing.(Representative publication: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6226329/) We also initiated an exciting collaborative project with biotech company investigating the targeted delivery of redox-controllable nanoparticles to cardiovascular system in vivo, which has been a great challenge for drug delivery and treatment for cardiovascular disease.
Education
Pharmacology, PhD, University of Illinois
Pharmacology, MS, Peking University
Pharmacy, BA, Peking University
Publications
Zhang Z, Lin W, Gan Q, Lei M, Gong B, Zhang C, Henrique JS, Han J, Tian H, Tao Q, Potempa LA, Stein TD, Emili A, Qiu WQ. The influences of ApoE isoforms on endothelial adherens junctions and actin cytoskeleton responding to mCRP. Angiogenesis. 2024 Nov; 27(4):861-881. PMID: 39276310.
Published on 5/22/2024Lotfollahzadeh S, Jose A, Zarnaab Shafiq E, El Sherif N, Smith M, Han J, Seta F, Chitalia V. Two methods of isolation of rat aortic smooth muscle cells with high yield. Biol Methods Protoc. 2024; 9(1):bpae038. PMID: 39006461.
Published on 4/12/2024Wang Y, Huang J, Ang TFA, Zhu Y, Tao Q, Mez J, Alosco M, Denis GV, Belkina A, Gurnani A, Ross M, Gong B, Han J, Lunetta KL, Stein TD, Au R, Farrer LA, Zhang X, Qiu WQ. The association between circulating CD34+CD133+ endothelial progenitor cells and reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease in the Framingham Heart Study. Explor Med. 2024; 5(2):193-214. PMID: 38854406.
Published on 1/5/2024Lotfollahzadeh S, Yang X, Wu Wong DJ, Han J, Seta F, Ganguli S, Jose A, Ravid K, Chitalia VC. Venous Thrombosis Assay in a Mouse Model of Cancer. J Vis Exp. 2024 Jan 05; (203). PMID: 38251710.
Published on 6/8/2023Budbazar E, Sulser Ponce De Leon S, Tsukahara Y, Liu H, Huangfu Y, Wang Y, Seabra PM, Yang X, Goodman JB, Wan X, Chitalia V, Han J, Seta F. Redox Dysregulation of Vascular Smooth Muscle Sirtuin-1 in Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm in Marfan Syndrome. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2023 Aug; 43(8):e339-e357. PMID: 37288573.
Published on 5/3/2023Li G, Chen H, Shen F, Smithson SB, Shealy GL, Ping Q, Liang Z, Han J, Adams AC, Li Y, Feng D, Gao B, Morita M, Han X, Huang TH, Musi N, Zang M. Targeting hepatic serine-arginine protein kinase 2 ameliorates alcohol-associated liver disease by alternative splicing control of lipogenesis. Hepatology. 2023 Nov 01; 78(5):1506-1524. PMID: 37129868.
Published on 4/12/2023Zhang Z, Gan Q, Han J, Tao Q, Qiu WQ, Madri JA. CD31 as a probable responding and gate-keeping protein of the blood-brain barrier and the risk of Alzheimer's disease. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2023 Jul; 43(7):1027-1041. PMID: 37051650.
Published on 3/31/2023Adjei-Mosi J, Sun Q, Smithson SB, Shealy GL, Amerineni KD, Liang Z, Chen H, Wang M, Ping Q, Han J, Morita M, Kamat A, Musi N, Zang M. Age-dependent loss of hepatic SIRT1 enhances NLRP3 inflammasome signaling and impairs capacity for liver fibrosis resolution. Aging Cell. 2023 May; 22(5):e13811. PMID: 36999514.
Published on 10/18/2022Zhou Y, Hou D, Marigo CC, Bonelli J, Rocas P, Cheng F, Yang X, Rocas J, Hamberg NM, Han J. Redox-responsive polyurethane-polyurea nanoparticles targeting to aortic endothelium and atherosclerosis. iScience. 2022 Nov 18; 25(11):105390. PMID: 36345337.
Published on 9/17/2021Zhou Y, Wan X, Seidel K, Zhang M, Goodman JB, Seta F, Hamburg N, Han J. Aging and Hypercholesterolemia Differentially Affect the Unfolded Protein Response in the Vasculature of ApoE-/- Mice. J Am Heart Assoc. 2021 09 21; 10(18):e020441. PMID: 34533042.