News

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.

Agenda

Cholesterol homeostasis is maintained through concerted action of the SREBPs and LXRs. Here, we report that RNF145, a previously uncharacterized ER membrane ubiquitin ligase, participates in crosstalk between these critical signaling pathways. RNF145 expression is induced in response to LXR activation and high-cholesterol diet feeding. Transduction of RNF145 into mouse liver inhibits the expression of genes involved in cholesterol biosynthesis and reduces plasma cholesterol levels.

More than 350 researchers, students and guests attended the 20th University of Kentucky Cardiovascular Research Day at the Lexington Convention Center, an annual event that celebrates the innovative research in cardiovascular health.

Latha Muniappan1, Aida Javidan1, Weihua Jiang1, Shayan Mohammadmoradi 1, Jessica J.
Moorleghen1, Wendy S. Katz1, Anju Balakrishnan1, Deborah A. Howatt1 & Venkateswaran
Subramanian1,2
Adipose tissue macrophages have been proposed as a link between obesity and insulin resistance.
However, the mechanisms underlying these processes are not completely defined. Calpains are calciumdependent
neutral cysteine proteases that modulate cellular function and have been implicated in

OBJECTIVE:

The upregulated expression of heparin binding EGF-like growth factor (HB-EGF) in the vessel and circulation is associated with risk of cardiovascular disease. In this study, we tested the effects of HB-EGF targeting using HB-EGF-specific antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) on the development of aortic aneurysm in a mouse aneurysm model.

The Saha Cardiovascular Research Center recently announced the winners of the 2017 Saha Awards. These annual awards are given to Medical and Nursing students as well as to a nurse educator. The awards are designed to reward creativity, dedication and knowledge in areas of cardiovascular research, disease prevention and patient education. The 2017 recipients are:

MD/PhD Student Award – Zheying “Jeff” Chen

Abstract

 

 

The Saha Cardiovascular Research Center is now accepting applications for the 2017 Saha Awards.

The application process will close on Friday, September 15, 2017.

 

Sawada H, Rateri DL, Moorleghen JJ, Majesky MW, Daugherty A.

Dysfunction of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) has been implicated in the etiologies of many cardiovascular diseases, including aortic aneurysm. In particular, the infusion of angiotensin II (Ang II) in the apolipoprotein E-deficient mice (apoE-/-) and low density lipoprotein receptor knockout mice (LDLR-/-) to induce aortic aneurysm has been extensively used in the field. In contrast, whether aldosterone (Aldo), an essential component of RAAS and a downstream effector of Ang II, is involved in aortic aneurysm is largely unknown.

Click here to be directed to the 2017 SELRC

Tori Stromp, PhD, a recent graduate of the Department of Physiology and a member of the Saha Cardiovascular Research Center, recently received the prestigious Summa Cum Laude Award at the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine Conference.  The award is presented to less than 1% of the abstracts submitted to the conference and is rarely awarded to graduate students.  Tori will present her work at the annual conference April 22-27, 2017 in Honolulu, HI.

Click here to be directed to the 2017 Cardiovascular Research Day homepage

Healthy Hearts @ Discovery Night -- Thursday, February 2nd 6-8pm

Celebrate HEART month this February at the Living Arts & Science Center with special guest doctors and scientists from the University of Kentucky!

Explore heart science and health in a fun, hands-on fashion: 

Enjoy heart healthy snacks!

Check out REAL human hearts!

Learn CPR!

Alan Daugherty, senior associate dean for research at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, was recently approved to renew his contract as editor-in-chief of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology: Journal of the American Heart Association (ATVB) for a second five-year term. ATVB is one of the five core journals of the American Heart Association. As editor of ATVB, Daugherty’s primary focus is on publishing the most important new research studies related to a spectrum of vascular diseases.