Weekly presentation and discussion of recent journal articles that represent an important advance in the field of cardiovascular biology. Students and Postdocs are expected to lead the discussion and answer questions in relation to the paper and field in general. Specific focus will include "hot" topics and new methodologies related to cardiovascular biology and pathology as they emerge from the literature and how such topics/techniques can be applied to one's own research. The paper discussion will enhance the presentation, problem solving, critical thinking skills of the trainee and his/her ability to provide constructive criticism to improve scientific work.
Jump to: Co-Directors Spring 2025 Past Years
Dr. Gabor Csanyi
Dr. Vijay Ganta
| Date | Speaker |
| January 3 | NO Journal Club |
| Jan 10 | CANCELED |
| Jan 17 | Delphine Okoye, PhD Student Vascular Biology Center Advisor: Benard Ogola, PhD Title: “FSH Is Responsible for Androgen Deprivation Therapy–Associated Atherosclerosis in Mice by Exaggerating Endothelial Inflammation and Monocyte Adhesion" ArteriosclerThrombVasc Biol. 44(3) | DOI.org/10.1161/ATVBAHA.123.319426 |
| Jan 24 | Zach Brown, PhD Student Vascular Biology Center Advisor: David Fulton, PhD Title: “Early intermittent hyperlipidaemia alters tissue macrophages to fuel atherosclerosis” Nat. 2024 Oct; 634(8033):457-465 | DOI.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07993-x |
| Jan 31 | Amritha Sreekumar, PhD Student Vascular Biology Center Advisor: Gabor Csanyi, PhD Title: “Macrophage ILF3 promotes abdominal aortic aneurysm by inducing inflammatory imbalance in male mice” Nat Comm | ( 2024) 15:7249. | DOI.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51030-4. |
| February 7 | Jaser Doja, PhD Candidate Vascular Biology Center Advisor: Joseph Miano, PhD Title: “Mitochondrial NAD+ deficiency in vascular smooth muscle impairs collagen III turnover to trigger thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysm” Nat Cardiovasc Res (2025) | DOI.org/10.1038/s44161-024-00606-w |
| Feb 14 | Barun Chatterjee, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow, Vascular Biology Center Mentors: Masuko Fukai, PhD, & Tohru Fukai, MD, PhD Title: “Lipid droplet degradation by autophagy connects mitochondria metabolism to Prox1-driven expression of lymphatic genes and lymphangiogenesis" NAT COMM (2022) 13:2760 | DOI.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30490-6 |
| Feb 21 | Stephen Addo, PhD Student Vascular Biology Center Advisor: Gabor Csanyi, PhD Title: “Disruption of PCSK9 Suppresses Inflammation and Attenuates Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Formation” Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2025;45:e1–e14. | DOI: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.123.320391 |
| Feb 28 | Mitch Shivers, PhD Candidate Vascular Biology Center Advisor: David Fulton, PhD Title: “Pro-inflammatory macrophages produce mitochondria-derived superoxide by reverse electron transport at complex I that regulates IL-1β release during NLRP3 inflammasome activation” Nat Metab (2025). DOI.10.1038/s42255-025-01224-x |
| March 7 | Cody Bridgewater, PhD Candidate Vascular Biology Center Advisor: David Stepp PhD Title: "Glycocalyx dysregulation impairs blood–brain barrier in ageing and disease” Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08589-9 |
| Mar 14 | NO Journal Club for Graduate Research Day events |
| Mar 21 | Josue Zambrano-Carrasco, PhD Candidate Vascular Biology Center Advisor: Huabo Su, PhD Title: "Spatially organized cellular communities form the developing human heart” Nature 627, 854–864 (2024). | DOI.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07171-z |
| Mar 28 | Khalia Cummings, PhD Student in Vascular Biology Immunology Center of Georgia Advisor: Marco Orecchioni, PhD Title: “Lipid droplets sequester palmitic acid to disrupt endothelial ciliation and exacerbate atherosclerosis in male mice” Nat Commun 15, 8273 (2024). | DOI.org/10.1038/s41467-024-52621-x” |
| April 4 | Vascular Biology Center Advisor: Title: “TBA” |
| Apr 11 | No Journal Club | Spring Break |
| Apr 18 | Siva Kuppuswamy, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow, Vascular Biology Center Mentor: Vijay Ganta, PhD Title: “DCBLD1 Modulates Angiogenesis by Regulation of the VEGFR-2 Endocytosis in Endothelial Cells” Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2025;45:198–217. | DOI:10.1161/ATVBAHA.123.320443 |
| Apr 25 | No Journal Club |
| May 2 | No Journal Club |
| May 9 | Md. Selim Hossain, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow, Vascular Biology Center Mentor: Masuko Ushio-Fukai, PhD, and Tohru Fukai, MD, PhD Title: “Astrocyte-to-neuron H2O2 signalling supports long-term memory formation in Drosophila and is impaired in an Alzheimer’s disease model” |
| May 16 | Chongyu (Will) Zhang, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow, Vascular Biology Center Mentor: Yao Liang Tang , PhD Title: “Mechanistic basis of lineage restriction” |
| May 23 | Md. Sadikul Islam, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow, Vascular Biology Center Mentor: Huabo Su , PhD Title: “Reducing Granules Without Splicing Restoration Alleviates RBM20 Cardiomyopathy” |
| May 30 | Adeel Zaidi, PhD Assistant Research Scientist, Vascular Biology Center Mentor: Ruth Caldwell , PhD Title: “TBA” |
FALL 2024
| Date | Speaker |
| Aug 16 | Suhib Alhusban, PhD Candidate Vascular Biology Center Advisor: Brian Annex, MD Title: “Phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase activates PKM2 to phosphorylate histone H3T11 and attenuate cellular senescence” Nat Comm. 2023.14:1323 | DOI.org/10.1038/s41467-023-37094-8 |
| Aug 23 | Hunter Sellers, PhD Candidate Vascular Biology Center Advisor: David Fulton, PhD Title: “ROS-induced ribosome impairment underlies ZAKa-mediated metabolic decline in obesity and aging” Science. 2023.382:1135 | DOI.org/10.1126/science.adf3208 |
| Aug 30 | Chang Min Lee, PhD Student Vascular Biology Center Advisor: Huabo Su, PhD Title: “Mitochondrial transfer mediates endothelial cell engraftment through mitophagy” Nature. 2024;629:660-668 | DOI.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07340-0 |
| Sept 6 | Chongyu Zhang, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow, Vascular Biology Center Mentor: Yao Liang Tang, PhD Title: “Translational landscape of direct cardiac reprogramming reveals a role of Ybx1 in repressing cardiac fate acquisition” Nat Cardiovasc Res. 2023. 2:1060-1077 | DOI.org/10.1038/s44161-023-00344-5 |
| Sept 13 | Candee Barris, PhD Candidate Vascular Biology Center Advisor: Eric Belin de Chantemele, PhD Title: “Xist ribonucleoproteins promote female sex-biased autoimmunity” Cell. 2024. 187(3):733-749 | DOI:10.1016/j.cell.2023.12.037 |
| Sept 20 | WonMo Ahn, PhD Candidate Vascular Biology Center Advisor: Gabor Csanyi, PhD Title: "Lp-PLA2 (Lipoprotein-Associated Phospholipase A2) Deficiency Lowers Cholesterol Levels and Protects Against Atherosclerosis in Rabbits" Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2023;43:e11–e28. | DOI: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.122.317898 |
| Sept 27 | Delphine Okoye, PhD Student Vascular Biology Center Advisor: Ben Ogola, PhD Title: “FSH Is Responsible for Androgen Deprivation Therapy–Associated Atherosclerosis in Mice by Exaggerating Endothelial Inflammation and Monocyte Adhesion” Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 44(3) | DOI.org/10.1161/ATVBAHA.123.319426 |
| Oct 4 |
CANCELED due to Helene |
| Oct 11 | Ann Cormier, PhD Student Vascular Biology Center Advisor: Brian Stansfield, MD Title: "SRF SUMOylation modulates smooth muscle phenotypic switch and vascular remodeling" Nat Commun 15, 6919 (2024). | DOI.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51350-5 |
| Oct 18 | Stephen Addo, PhD Student Vascular Biology Center Advisor: Gabor Csanyi, PhD Title:“NF1 deficiency drives metabolic reprogramming in ER+ breast cancer” Mol Metab. 2024 Feb;80:101876. | DOI:10.1016/j.molmet.2024.101876. |
| Oct 25 | Amritha Sreekumar, PhD Student Vascular Biology Center Advisor: Gabor Csanyi, PhD Title: Macrophage ILF3 promotes abdominal aortic aneurysm by inducing inflammatory imbalance in male mice" Nat Comm. 2024.15:7249. | DOI.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51030-4. |
| Nov 1 | David Kim, MD/PhD Candidate Vascular Biology Center Advisor: Neal Weintraub, MD Title: lncRNA VELRP Modulates Pulmonary Arterial Smooth Muscle Cell Proliferation and Promotes Vascular Remodeling in Pulmonary Hypertension” ATVB. 2024. DOI.org/10.1161/ATVBAHA.124.3214 |
| Nov 8 | Drew Speese, PhD Candidate Vascular Biology Center Advisor: David Stepp, PhD Title: “Amyloid beta 42 alters cardiac metabolism and impairs cardiac function in male mice with obesity” Nat Commun. 2024.15:258. | DOI.org/10.1038/s41467-023-44520-4 |
| Nov 15 | No Journal Club |
| Nov 22 | No Journal Club |
| Nov 29 | No Journal Club |
| Dec 6 | Beryl Khakina, PhD Student Vascular Biology Center Advisor: Eric Belin de Chantemele, PhD Title: “Endothelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition Contributes to Accelerated Atherosclerosis in Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome” Circulation 150, 20 (2024) | DOI.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.123.065768 |
| Dec 13 | Peter Biggs, PhD Student Vascular Biology Center Advisor: Alexander Verin, PhD Title: “Force-mediated recruitment and reprogramming of healthy endothelial cells drive vascular lesion growth” Nat Commun 15, 8660 (2024) | DOI.org/10.1038/s41467-024-52866-6 |
| Dec 20 | Ishara Menik, PhD Student Vascular Biology Center Advisor: Eric Belin de Chantemele, PhD Title: “Social Bonds Retain Oxytocin-Mediated Brain-Liver Axis to Retard Atherosclerosis” Atherosclerosis. Circ Res. 2024 Nov 27 | DOI.org/10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.124.324638 |
| Dec 27 | No Journal Club |
SPRING 2024
| Date | Speaker |
| January 5 | Zsuzsanna Bordan, PhD Candidate in Vascular Biology David Fulton Lab Title: “Endothelial FIS1 DeSUMOylation Protects Against Hypoxic Pulmonary Hypertension” Circulation Research. 2023;133:508–531 | DOI:10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.122.321200. |
| January 12 Canceled |
Sonia Batan, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow Vijay Ganta Lab Title: “Genetic inhibition of CARD9 accelerates the development of atherosclerosis in mice through CD36 dependent-defective autophagy” Nat Commun 14, 4622 (2023) | DOI.org/10.1038/s41467-023-40216-x. |
| January 19 | Amr Salem, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow Joseph Miano Lab Title: “Mural cell-derived chemokines provide a protective niche to safeguard vascular macrophages and limit chronic inflammation” Immunity 56, 2325–2341 (2023) | DOI.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2023.08.002 |
| January 26 | Nestor Ishimwe, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow Joseph Miano Lab Title: “Endothelial HDAC1-ZEB2-NuRD Complex Drives Aortic Aneurysm and Dissection Through Regulation of Protein S-Sulfhydration” Circulation. 2023;147:1382–1403 | DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.122.062743 |
| February 2 | Andrew Speese, PhD Candidate in Vascular Biology David Stepp Lab Title: “Skeletal muscle regeneration failure in ischemic-damaged limbs is associated with pro-inflammatory macrophages and premature differentiation of satellite cells” Genome Med. 2023 Nov 10;15(1):95 | DOI: 10.1186/s13073-023-01250-y. |
| February 9 | Taylor Kress, PhD Candidate in Vascular Biology Eric Belin de Chantemele Lab Title: “CD4+ T-Cell Legumain Deficiency Attenuates Hypertensive Damage via Preservation of TRAF6” Circulation Research. 2024;134:9–29 | DOI: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.123.322835 |
| February 16 | Yoichi Ono, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow Eric Belin de Chantemele Lab Title: “Beiging of perivascular adipose tissue regulates its inflammation and vascular remodeling” Nature Communications (2022) 13:5117 | DOI.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32658-6 |
| February 23 | Sheela Nagarkoti, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow Masuko Ushio-Fukai Lab Title: “Blood flow patterns switch VEGFR2 activity through differential S-nitrosylation and S-oxidation” Cell Reports 42(11):113361 | DOI:10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113361. |
| March 1 | Maryam Razaei-Gazik, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow Jie Li Lab Title: “Dynamic interplay between RPL3- and RPL3L-containing ribosomes modulates mitochondrial activity in the mammalian heart” Nucleic Acids Res. 2023 Jun 23;51(11):5301-5324 | doi: 10.1093/nar/gkad121. |
| March 8 | NO Journal Club |
| March 15 | Rahul Patil, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow Alexander Verin Lab Title: “MicroRNA-1 protects the endothelium in acute lung injury” JCI Insight. 2023 Sep 22;8(18):e164816 | doi: 10.1172/jci. |
| March 22 | Mai Yamamoto, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow Tohru Fukai Lab Title: “Succinate-induced macrophage polarization and RBP4 secretion promote vascular sprouting in ocular neovascularization” Neuroinflammation (2023) 20:308 | doi.org/10.1186/s12974-023-02998-1 |
| March 29 | Ishara M.G. Menik, PhD Student Eric Belin de Chantemele Lab Title: “Unraveling the Role of Sex in Endothelial Cell Dysfunction: Evidence From Lineage Tracing Mice and Cultured Cells” Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2024 Jan.44(1):238-253 | doi.org/10.1161/ATVBAHA.123.319833 |
| April 5 | No Journal Club |
| April 12 | Chang Min Lee, PhD Student Jie Li Lab Title: “HEG1 Protects Against Atherosclerosis by Regulating Stable Flow-Induced KLF2/4 Expression in Endothelial Cells” Circulation. 2023;149:00–00 | DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.123.064735 |
| April 19 | Qimei Han, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow Brian Annex Lab Title: “Disrupted Binding of Cystathionine γ-Lyase to p53 Promotes Endothelial Senescence” Circulation Research. 2023;133:842–857 | DOI: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.123.323084 |
| April 26 | Mohamed Nofal, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow Brian Annex Lab Title: “Hyperglycolysis in endothelial cells drives endothelial injury and microvascular alterations in peritoneal dialysis” Clin. Transl. Med. 2023;13:e1498 | DOI.org/10.1002/ctm2.1498 |
|
May 3 |
Beryl Khakina, PhD Student Eric Belin de Chantemele Lab |
| May 10 | Beryl Khakina, PhD Student Eric Belin de Chantemele Lab Title: “LOX-1 and MMP-9 Inhibition Attenuates the Detrimental Effects of Delayed rt-PA Therapy and Improves Outcomes After Acute Ischemic Stroke" Circulation Research. 2024;134:954–969 | DOI: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.123.323371 |
| May 17 CANCELED |
Anil Sakamuri, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow Ben Ogola Lab Title: "lncRNA JPX-Enriched Chromatin Microenvironment Mediates Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Senescence and Promotes Atherosclerosis" Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2024;44:156–176 | DOI: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.122.319250 |
