News

The 21st Annual Gill Heart Association Cardiovascular Research Day was a huge success, thanks to  the expectional presentations from our trainees,
staff, and featured speakers! This year featured over 60 poster presentations, a huge thank you to all who participated. 

The following are the winners for this year’s Poster Presentations:

Top Poster Presenters:

Outstanding Graduate Student Poster Presentation “The Deneys van der Westhuyzen Award”: Hsuan Peng

Research Blitz Judging

Detailed Event Schedule

Brief Event Schedule

2018 Abstract Book

The 21st Annual Gill Heart Cardiovascular Research Day is this Friday, September 21! 

The 21st annual Gill Heart Cardiovascular Research Day is this Friday, September 21! 

In promoting environmental sustainability, this year’s Research Day will be paperless. Be sure to bring your laptop or other mobile device! Complimentary free Wi-Fi will be provided for all attendees.

Wi-Fi name: SahaCVRC - no password required 

See below for the event schedule and abstract book:

Click here for the schedule of the day

Preetha Shridas, Maria C. De Beer*, Nancy Webb*

DOI: http://www.jbc.org/content/293/34/13257.short?rss=1

Abstract

This year’s Cardiovascular Research Day welcomes four trainee presentations from across several areas of the university. Two blocks of trainee presentations will highlight unique studies into cardiovascular research.

Sawada, H**., B. C. Wright, J. Z. Chen, H. S. Lu*, and A. Daugherty* August 2018 - no abstract http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cvr/cvy205. Despite major advances in hypertension therapy, even optimally treated hypertensive patients have high mortality compared to normotensive subjects. One manifestation of hypertension is aortic remodeling that predisposes to several cardiovascular diseases. There are still many unknowns on the mechanisms of the cellular and structural changes of hypertension-induced aortic remodeling.

Click here to register for Research DayFeatured Speakers

Mary McDermott, M.D.

Jeremiah Stamler Professor, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Patricia G. Wilson, Joel C. Thompson, Preetha Shridas, Patrick J. McNamara, Maria C. de Beer*, Frederick C. de Beer*, Nancy R. Webb*, Lisa R. Tannock* Objective— SAA (serum amyloid A) is a family of acute-phase reactants that have proinflammatory and proatherogenic activities. SAA is more lipophilic than apoA-I (apolipoprotein A-I), and during an acute-phase response, 10% of plasma SAA is found lipid-free.

Registration is now open for the 21st annual University of Kentucky Gill Heart Institute Cardiovascular Research Day! Hurry, registration and abstract submission closes on September 7. Click Here to Register! Learn more about this year's event including featured speakers, faculty presentations, and schedule of the day - 21st Cardiovascular Research Day.

The Saha Cardiovascular Research Center is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2018 Saha Awards for Cardiovascular Research and Education.  The Saha Awards are given to encourage and support staff and students with an interest in and dedication to cardiovascular medicine.

The Laboratory of Dr. Lisa Cassis within the University of Kentucky (UK) School of Medicine in the Department of Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences is seeking to fill a Postdoctoral Research Scientist position in the area of vascular biology.

Applications are now being accepted for the 2018 Saha Awards. 

The Saha Awards are given to encourage and support staff and students with an interest in and dedication to cardiovascular medicine. Each award includes an unrestricted $1000 prize, a certificate and recognition at the University of Kentucky Gill Heart Institute Cardiovascular Research Day held on September 21, 2018 at the Lexington Convention Center.

UK HealthCare has more than 155 physicians practicing medicine with University of Kentucky Albert B. Chandler Hospital, Kentucky Children's Hospital, UK Good Samaritan Hospital who appear on the Best Doctors in America List for 2019 — more than any other hospital in Kentucky. Only four percent of doctors in America earn this prestigious honor, decided by impartial peer review. 

BACKGROUND AND AIMS:

Serum amyloid A (SAA) predicts cardiovascular events. Overexpression of SAA increases atherosclerosis development; however, deficiency of two of the murine acute phase isoforms, SAA1.1 and SAA2.1, has no effect on atherosclerosis. SAA3 is a pseudogene in humans, but is an expressed acute phase isoform in mice. The goal of this study was to determine if SAA3 affects atherosclerosis in mice.

“You see doctor, when I found out you had Marfan syndrome and I saw that you were pregnant, I felt so jealous I could not stand it. Then I realized, if you did it, maybe I could, too.”     My mind raced with ways to respond. I did not answer as quickly as usual. She took my pause as an opportunity to continue…     “You know, I love my foster babies. I feel so blessed. It’s just hard to wake up every morning and remember that they can be taken away. I have three now…they are siblings.

It's common knowledge that exercise is good for our muscles. Regular workouts help tone the muscle we have and build more muscle on top of that.

But the heart is a muscle too. When you exercise, your heart "remodels" to accommodate the body's increased demand for more oxygen-rich blood to feed those muscles. 

But does this remodeling affect Olympic athletes differently?

In a society that values gender equality, it's important to remember that there are differences between the sexes that directly impact health.

One area in critical need of further study is cardiovascular health. For the past four years, two junior faculty at the University of Kentucky have invested their efforts to host a symposium where outstanding scientists from UK and universities across the country present new scientific advances in women's heart health and explore translational cardiovascular research areas that merit further study.

The American Heart Association has awarded a University of Kentucky and Baylor University research partnership $3.7 million to study aortic disease.

UK and Baylor were one of four teams nationwide to receive the honor, which coincides with the establishment of the American Heart Association's Vascular Research Disease Network.

Why?

That's the question John Charles constantly asked his parents as a boy. His father was a trained geologist, but he struggled to answer his son's barrage of questions about nature. So he made sure young John had plenty of books about science and space and encouraged him to find the answers.