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Roles
Research Assistant Professor
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Biography
Throughout my research career, I have accumulated unique experience in cardiovascular physiology, pregnancy, nitric oxide, echocardiography, and molecular and cellular biology. Early in my career, I developed a keen interest in elucidating the role of nitric oxide signaling in both physiological and pathological conditions. During my graduate studies at University of Toronto, I investigated the role of endothelial nitric oxide (eNOS) in mediating cardiovascular, utero- and feto-placental changes during pregnancy. My thesis work showed that eNOS played an essential role in vasodilation, structural remodeling and angiogenesis during normal pregnancy. My work also established a critical role for eNOS in etiology of pregnancy-related complications including preeclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction.
To compliment my research interest in nitric oxide and cardiovascular system and further enhance my laboratory skills, I was recruited to the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute (ISCI) at University of Miami Miller School of Medicine to do my postdoctoral training. While here I have been an integral member of a multidisciplinary team and have had the opportunity to interact with an impressive cadre of basic and translational scientists and clinical investigators with expertise in multiple areas including Pediatrics, Cardiology, Frailty, Urology, Vascular biology, Diabetes, Hematology and Cancer Biology. At ISCI, I have had the opportunity to work in an environment of translational medicine, in which basic observations are rapidly translated to clinical settings. In this collaborative setting I was challenged to ask and answer scientific questions related to the role of NO, GSNOR and S-nitrosylation on pregnancy, preeclampsia, cardiac function and heart failure. In addition, I have been exposed to ground-breaking research using stem cell in cardiac repair following heart failure. I have acquired skills in the use of sophisticated, state of the art, non-invasive micro-ultrasound to quantify cardiac and vascular structure and function in vivo. I have also established protocols for imaging and Doppler analysis of the heart and vessels in the adult, placenta and the fetus. Furthermore, I have adapted standard physiological methods for measuring blood pressure for use in adult mice and performed SNO-RAC and Biotin-switch techniques to measure S-nitrosylation levels.
As a Research Assistant Professor in Department of Pediatrics and ISCI at University of Miami, I will merge my knowledge and expertise gained in my graduate and postgraduate training and work in the field of nitric oxide, pregnancy, and fetal programming in adult life. I am currently located at University of Miami Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute, a program that has over 60 fulltime faculty members and occupies 26,000 sq. feet of space at the Miller School of Medicine. The program houses a Good Manufacturing Practice laboratory for cell production, a clinical trial unit, coordinating center, and regulatory office, basic science laboratories, core facilities, and a state-of-the art imaging program. -
Education & Training
Education
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Honors & Awards
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Teaching Interests
Focus on pregnancy, pregnancy-related complication, nitric oxide, heart failure, physiology, echocardiography -
Research Interests
Preeclampsia (PE) affects up to 10% of human pregnancies and is one of the leading causes of maternal and fetal/neonatal mortality and morbidity worldwide. There are no effective or preventive treatments other than to deliver the fetus prematurely, placing the neonate at high risk for life-long complications of prematurity and expensive care. Mothers who experience PE and their growth-restricted babies (IUGR) are also at increased risk for cardiovascular and renal diseases later in life. The pathogenesis of PE and IUGR is incompletely understood, but emerging data suggest that vasodilator, nitric oxide and impaired protein S-nitrosylation plays a critical role. Using mice lacking S-nitrosoglutathione reductase (GSNOR-/-), a denitrosylase regulating protein S-nitrosylation, we showed that these mice exhibit a PE phenotype, including hypertension, proteinuria, renal pathology, cardiac concentric hypertrophy, decreased placental vascularization, and IUGR. Furthermore, using human PE tissues, we showed that GSNOR plays an essential role in human pregnancy. In addition, we have identified increases in protein S-nitrosylation and nitrosative stress as causative mechanisms involved in mediating the pathological phenotype. These findings opens up the potential to develop novel therapies and further understand the mechanisms involved. The long-term objectives are to identify unique molecular proteins involved in both PE and IUGR and design rational therapeutic targets to prevent and treat these disorders at present time, but also aid in their treatment to prevent long-term cardiovascular and renal complications in both the mother and infant. -
Publications
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Professional Activities
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