Department of Physiology and Pharmacology

2021 News Archive

 

The NHLBI website has published a short summary of the NIH workshop that Dr. Bina Joe was invited to attend in November, 2021. The summary is a reflection of areas for potential future funding considerations.
Click here to view:
Toward Precision Medicine: Circadian Rhythm of Blood Pressure and Chronotherapy for Hypertension | NHLBI, NIH

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Congratulations to Dr. Charles Thodeti! He was invited to serve on the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Physiology- Heart and Circulatory Physiology.

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Dr. Bina Joe was featured as an invited International speaker at the HBPRCA meeting's symposium on Gut Microbiome and cadiovascular diseases. Other prominent international speakers include Prof Wilson Tang (Cleveland Clinic), Dr Annet Kirabo (Vanderbilt University College of Medicine), A/Prof Levi Waldron (City University of New York), and Prof Dominik Muller (Max-Delbrück-Center Berlin). 

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Dr. Jasenka Zubcevic is one of the Topic Editors for "Gut Microbiota and the Nervous System" in the journal, Frontiers in Neuroscience.  This Research Topic is part of a series called, "Gut Microbiota and the Nervous System." Please see more here: Gut Microbiota and the Nervous System, Volume II | Frontiers Research Topic (frontiersin.org)

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Congratulations to Dr. Charles Thodeti and team! Their manuscript has been accepted for publication in Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology.

Title: Tumor-derived extracellular vesicles induce abnormal angiogenesis via TRPV4 downregulation and subsequent activation of YAP and VEGFR2  

Authors: Brianna D. Guarino, Venkatesh Katari, Ravi K. Adapala, Neha Bhavnani, Julie A. Dougherty, Mahmood Khan, Sailaja Paruchuri, and Charles K. Thodeti 

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A warm Phys/Pharm welcome to Dr. Venugopal Reddy Bovilla and Shubhashri Venkatesh!  Dr. Venugopal Reddy Bovilla will be working in Dr. Matam Vijay-Kumar's lab and Shubhashri Venkatesh will be volunteerting in Dr. Jasenka Zubcevic's lab. 

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Congratulations to Dr. Piu Saha! She has been selected as an Editorial Board Member for the Physiological Genomics Journal.

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Last week, Dr. Charles Thodeti served on two fellowship study sections for NIH (F31 and F32; Physiology and Pathobiology of cardiovascular and Respiratory systems) and AHA (Pre-and Post-doc; Vascular Endo).

The broad purpose of NIH F31 fellowship program is “to enable promising predoctoral students with potential to develop into a productive, independent research scientist, to obtain mentored research training while conducting dissertation research."

The purpose of F32 postdoctoral fellowship is “to enhance the research training of promising postdoctoral candidates who have the potential to become productive, independent investigators in scientific health-related research fields relevant to the missions of the participating NIH Institutes and Centers”.

AHA has similar goals but the applications should be aligned with the mission of the AHA.

If anyone is interested in knowing more details on training grants or needs guidance, kindly contact Dr. Thodeti (Charles.thodeti@utoledo.edu). 

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Congratulations to Dr. Edwin Sanchez and Dr. Katye Smedlund! Their review paper, “FKBP51 and the molecular chaperoning of metabolism” was published in Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism (TEM) and made the cover art for the November issue. We are especially proud that one of our postdoctoral fellows has a first-authored publication in this esteemed Cell Press publication, whose current Impact Factor is 12.015.

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Congratulations to Dr. Ritu Chakravarti! She has recently joined the editorial board of Immunobiology, an Elsevier journal.

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Congratulations to Dr. Beata Lecka-Czernik and team! Their manuscript has been accepted for publication in Physiological Genomics!

Title:Reconstitution of the host holobiont in germ-free born male rats acutely increases bone growth and affects marrow cellular content

Authors: Piotr J Czernik, Rachel M Golonka, Saroj Chakraborty, Beng San Yeoh, Ahmed A Abokor, Piu Saha , Ji-Youn Yeo, Blair Mell, Xi Cheng, Sudipta Baroi, Yuan Tian, Andrew D Patterson, Bina Joe, Matam Vijay-Kumar, Beata Lecka-Czernik

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Congratulations to Dr. Thodeti and team! Their first manuscript from UT has been accepted to the journal Cells.

Title: TRPV4 Mechanotransduction in Fibrosis

Authors: Ravi K Adapala, Venkatesh Katari, Lakshminarayan Teegala, Sathwika
Thodeti, Sailaja Paruchuri, Charles K. Thodeti

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A hearty congratulations to Dr. Sailaja Paruchuri and team! Their first publication out of our Department has been accepted to the journal, Frontiers in Physiology.

Title: "Leukotriene D4 upregulates oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor 1 and CD36 to enhance oxidized LDL uptake and phagocytosis in macrophages through Cysteinyl leukotriene receptor 1"

Authors:
Sabita Pokhrel, Ravindra Gudneppanavar, Lakshminarayan Reddy Teegala, Ernest Duah, Charles K Thodeti, Sailaja Paruchuri

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Congratulations to Dr. Ritu Chakravarti! Her work on a potential vaccine for Rheumatoid Arthritis was highlighted in The Blade's editorial yesterday.
You may access the article here: https://www.toledoblade.com/opinion/editorials/2021/10/17/ut-research-battles-a-tough-disease/stories/20211017044

Her work has continued to be highlighted both nationally and internationally.

She was recently invited for a Canadian talk show interview about her laboratory's finding of a potential rheumatoid arthritis vaccine. The interview will air 10-19-2021 at 7 p.m. at www.ckwr.com.

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Congratulations to MOME Track students, Ishan Manandhar and Sachin Aryal, who received their white coats  on 10-07-2021!

Rachel Golonka, (Dr. Kumar's Lab) President of the The Council of Biomedical Graduate Students (CBGS), gave the welcome.

Well done, all!

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Congratulations to Dr. Piu Saha! Her manuscript titled, "Immunoglobulin A, an active liaison for host-microbiota homeostasis",  has been accepted to the journal Microorganisms.

Authors: Ahmed A. Abokor, Grant H. Mcdaniel, Rachel M. Golonka, Connor
Campbell, Sreya Brahmandam, Beng San Yeoh, Bina Joe, Matam Vijay-Kumar, Piu
Saha *

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Congratulations to Dr. Tao Yang! Tao was a finalist of the Stephanie Watts Career Development Award. 

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Dr. Ritu Chakravarti has been featured in several media outlets this past week for recognition of her work with rheumatoid arthritis.  As of now, it has been highlighted at about 20 different websites, including  9 nations.

View The Blade article here: https://www.toledoblade.com/local/education/2021/10/10/ut-experimental-vaccine-rheumatoid-arthritis/stories/20211007111

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In response to a request from Dame Professor Anna Dominiczak, Editor-in-Chief of Cambridge Prisms: Precision Medicine, Dr. Bina Joe has accepted service as an Associate Editor for this new journal. The Cambridge Prisms series is a new publishing venture from Cambridge University Press, consisting of high impact, open access journals in global, multi-and interdisciplinary subject areas. One of the first journal titles in the series will be Precision Medicine. 

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Dr. Bina Joe was selected to be the next awardee of the APS Ernest H. Starling Distinguished Lectureship for Experimental Biology (EB) 2022, to be held from April 2-5 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Starling Award is the most prestigious of the APS WEH Section awards and is presented annually to an APS member recognized for exceptional contributions and lifelong dedication to Water and Electrolyte Homeostasis research. 

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A warm welcome to two new employees of the department, Ramakumar Tummala, PhD and Georgia "Jo" Carr!

Dr. Tummala is a Research Associate for the Microbiome Consortium (Dr. Matam Vijay-Kurmar) and Jo is a part time Secretary I for all the Basic Science Departments and will be in our department on Fridays.  

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Congratulations to Dr. Thodeti and his team, Dr. Ravi K Adapala and Dr. Venkatesh Katari! Their abstract titled,  "Cardiomyocyte Specific Deletion Of Trpv4 Offers Cardio-protection Independent Of Cardiac Fibrosis Following Pressure Overload-induced Hypertrophy", was accepted for oral presentation (by Dr. Adapala) at the American Heart Association's Annual Scientific Sessions to be held virtually in November. 

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We are proud of our Department being well represented at the OPS Meeting this past weekend.

Dr. Lauren Gerard Koch – judge
Dr. Ana Maria Hardy (Koch Lab) – selected for oral presentation
Samantha McKee (Koch Lab) – poster presentation, 1 minute data blitz presenter
Dr. Piu Saha (Vijay-Kumar Lab) - poster presentation
Rachel Golonka (Vijay-Kumar Lab) - poster presentation
Ahmed Abokor - poster presentation

A hearty congratulations to Rachel Golonka from Dr. Matam Vijay-Kumar's Lab! She is one of five recipients of a travel award from CWRU for the upcoming Experimental Biology 2022 conference. 

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The latest research from the Joe laboratory found that the one of the mechanisms by which the ketone body, beta hydroxybutyrate synthesized by the liver lowers blood pressure is by virtue of it being a potent vasodilator.  This research is published in the JCI Insight (Journal of Clinical Investigation Insight, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34499623/).  Because this ketone body is also released during exercise, this work may explain how exercise protects our blood vessels from constricting and thus curbs hypertension and associated vascular aging.Congratulations to Dr. Tao Yang! His manuscript was accepted to Nucleic Acids Research. The title is : "HDAC1 is required for GATA-1 transcription activity, global chromatin occupancy and hematopoiesis."

Authors:
Bowen Yan, Jennifer Yang, Min Young Kim, Huacheng Luo, Nicholas Cesari, Tao Yang, John Strouboulis, Jiwang Zhang, Ross Hardison, Suming Huang, 
Yi Qiu

 

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Congratulations to Dr. Koch! Her paper published in Physiological Genomics was recognized as an APS Select publication for September.

Title: “Genetically determined exercise capacity affects systemic glucose response to insulin in rats”
 
Authors: Michael Schwarzer, Annika Molis, Christina Schenkl, Andrea Schrepper, Steven L. Britton, Lauren Gerard Koch, Torsten Doenst.
 
This was a collaborative study with investigators from Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Jena University Hospital – Friedrich Schiller, University of Jena, Jena, Germany.

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Congrats to Dr. John Turner! He is a co-author/co-editor of an 89-page, multi-authored review paper accepted for publication last week in the journal, Human-Wildlife Interactions.

The title of the review is, "Fertility Control Options for Management of Free-Roaming Horse Populations."

The review covers a range of methodologies and includes their research histories, mechanisms, aspects of field application and associated pros and cons. 

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Congratulations to Dr. Ritu Chakravarti! She obtained funding for a subaward with OSU. The title of the award is "Dormitory wastewater monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 at Universities and Colleges in the State of Ohio". 

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Congratulations to Rachel Golonka from Dr. Matam Vijay Kumar's lab! Her abstract, "Investigating neutrophil extracellular traps deficiency in alcohol-associated liver disease", has been selected for Parallel oral presentation at The Liver Meeting 2021 hosted by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). This meeting is currently scheduled to be held in Anaheim, California from November 12-15 2021.

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 The American Heart Association (AHA) launched a comprehensive AHA research Awardee Engagement Program to cultivate the professional talents of investigators. Dr. Piu Saha was invited to join this elite group of people who have successfully competed for AHA research funding. 

The program was organized to better recognize the Career Development Awardees' funding achievements, follow their work more closely over time, and pursue meaningful AHA activities that would enhance the awardees' careers. 

Well done!

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Congrats to Dr. Matam Vijay Kumar and lab! Their manuscript, "IL-10 Receptor Neutralization–Induced Colitis in Mice: A Comprehensive Guide", was accepted to Current Protocols!
Authors:
Piu Saha, Rachel M. Golonka, Ahmed A. Abokor, Beng San Yeoh, Matam Vijay-Kumar

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Congrats to Dr. Ritu Chakravarti and team! Her manuscript, "14-3-3ζ: A suppressor of inflammatory arthritis", was accepted for publication in PNAS! 

Congratulations to Moiz (Koch Lab)! He successfully defended his dissertation on July 27th. Well done! We wish you well on your future endeavors at U of M! 

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Congratulations to Dr. Jennifer Hill! She was recently invited to join the board of Frontiers in Endocrinology, Translational Endocrinology, as an Associate Editor.

If any faculty are interested in reviewing for Translational Endocrinology, please contact Dr. Hill. 

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A hearty congratulations to Dr. Jennifer Hill! Her R01 grant has secured a whopping 4.0 percentile! Congratulations to her and Dr. Edwin Sanchez who is her co-investigator!

Title of project:  Astrocyte insulin resistance-induced neuroendocrine defects in pubertal delay and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism.

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Ms. Rachel Golonka, trainee of Dr. Matam Vijay-Kumar submitted a F31 fellowship grant. It was reviewed from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at NIH and below are the results.

Grant Title: Targeting Gut Microbiota Metabolites to Prevent Liver Cancer

Project goal: Investigate the role gut bacterial dysbiosis and its associated metabolites play in immunosuppression during the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma in mice.

Role: Personnel Investigator (PI)

Percentile: 1.0

Impact Score: 10                                                                                                        

Award Period: 12/01/2021 - 11/30/2024

Well done!

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Congratulations to Dr. Tao Yang! He was chosen by the American Heart Association’s Council on Hypertension’s Trainee Advocacy Committee and Data Sciences International (DSI), as a finalist for the 2021 Stephanie Watts Career Development Award.

Well done!

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Congratulations to Dr. Tao Yang! His abstract has been selected for a Moderated Poster Presentation at the Hypertension 2021 Virtual Scientific Sessions scheduled for September 27-29, 2021.

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Dr. Bina Joe’s project titled, " A novel model to study COVID-19 and Hypertension” has been awarded an NIH grant from the R21 mechanism. Besides Blair Mell from our Department, other collaborators include Drs. Saurabh Chattopadhyay and Jason Huntley from the MMI Department.  

 Congratulations!

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Aryal Sachin and Ishan Manandhar both successfully defended their Masters dissertations.

Congratulations!

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Dr. Tao Yang has accepted our offer as Assistant Professor in the Basic Scientist Tenure Track in the Department.

Congratulations!

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Dr. Piu Saha has accepted our offer as Assistant Professor in the Research Track in the Department.

Congratulations!

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Dr. Bina Joe has been elected as a Board Member of the Greater Toledo Community Foundation. Click on the link for more information.https://www.toledocf.org/who-we-are/leadership-team/

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 Congratulations to Dr. Camilla Wenceslau and team! Their high impact publication, first authored by Jonnelle Edwards, was selected by the editors of the journal Hypertension as a High Impact Paper for Summer 2021 in the category of basic science. Well done!

Title: FPR-1 (Formyl Peptide Receptor-1) Activation Promotes Spontaneous, Premature Hypertension in Dahl Salt-Sensitive Rats

Authors: Jonnelle M. Edwards, Shaunak Roy, Sarah L. Galla,Jeremy C. Tomcho, Nicole R. Bearss, Emily W. Waigi, Blair Mell,

Xi Cheng, Piu Saha, Matam Vijay-Kumar, Cameron G. McCarthy, Bina Joe, Camilla F. Wenceslau

Hypertension. 2021 | Volume 77, Issue 4: 1191–1202

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A warm welcome to new Phys/Pharm Professors, Dr. Charles Thodeti and Dr. Sailaja Paruchuri and their teams!

Dr. Thodeti comes to us from Northeast Ohio Medical University and his lab works in mechanotransduction mechanisms in cardiac remodeling and pathological angiogenesis. His work has been supported by NIH-NHLBI (R01 and R15), NIH-NCI-(R15) and AHA (Scientist Development Award, Grant-in-Aid and Transformative Project Award). He has published more than 60 peer-reviewed articles in the fields of cardiovascular physiology and cell biology. He serves as an editorial board member for Circulation Research, Scientific Reports and Microcirculation, and as a reviewer for more than 30 top-tier journals. Dr. Thodeti is a study section member for AHA and NIH.

Dr. Paruchuri come to us from the University of Akron and her lab works in  biochemical/molecular mechanisms underlying the role of eicosanoids (cysteinyl leukotrienes and prostaglandins) in inflammation, asthma and cancer. Her work is supported by the NIH (R01). The Paruchuri Lab's  main goal is to develop novel eicosanoid (bioactive lipid)-based therapies for the treatment of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Her laboratory has expertise with cutting edge cell and molecular biological techniques as well as mouse models of asthma and tumors.

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Dr. Jasenka Zubcevic was invited and completed her maiden service to the NIH as a reviewer on the Integrated Vascular Physiology and Pathology (IVPP) study section. Congratulations Dr. Zubcevic!

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Drs. Jasenka Zubcevic, Cameron McCarthy, Tao Yang and Bina Joe have been invited to grade abstracts for the upcoming International-level meeting of the American Heart Association Council on Hypertension. This is a premier meeting for Research on Hypertension, which is a leading research area in our Department and Center for Hypertension and Precision Medicine.

Dr. McCarthy will also be grading the Stephanie Watts Career Development Award applications. 

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Dr. Bina Joe’s project titled, " A novel model to study COVID-19 and Hypertension” has been awarded an NIH grant from the R21 mechanism. Besides Blair Mell from our Department, other collaborators include Drs. Saurabh Chattopadhyay and Jason Huntley from the MMI Department.  

 Congratulations!

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 Congratulations to Dr. Piu Saha from the Kumar laboratory!

She has been awarded a Career Development Grant from the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation for her project titled, "Targeting innate immunity and gut microbiota to treat iron-induced adverse effect."

The project is 3 years (2021-2024).

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Aryal Sachin and Ishan Manandhar both successfully defended their Masters dissertations.

Congratulations!

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Congratulations to Dr. Koch and her team. Here is a list of June papers accepted from the Koch lab.

 Manuscript title: Myokine responses to exercise in a rat model of low/high adaptive potential
Journal: Frontiers in Endocrinology, section Translational Endocrinology Jun 9;12:645881. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2021.645881.
Authors: Wesam F Farrash, Bethan E Phillips, Steven Britton, Nathan Qi, Lauren Koch, Daniel Wilkinson, Ken Smith, Philip J Atherton
In collaboration with The MRC-Arthritis Research UK Centre for Integrated research into Musculoskeletal Ageing (CIMA) at the University of Nottingham.
 
Manuscript title: Interactive effects of aging and aerobic capacity on energy metabolism-related metabolites of serum, skeletal muscle, and white adipose tissue.
Journal: Geroscience Jun 5. doi: 10.1007/s11357-021-00387-
Authors: Haihui Zhuang, Sira Karvinen, Timo Törmakangas, Xiaobo Zhang, Xiaowei Ojanen, Vidya Velagapudi, Markku Alen, Steven L. Britton, Lauren G. Koch, Heikki Kainulainen, Shulin Cheng, Petri Wiklund.
In collaboration with University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.

Manuscript title: Differential weight loss with intermittent fasting or daily calorie restriction in low- and high-fitness phenotypes.
Journal: Exp Physiol. 2021 2021 Jun 4. doi: 10.1113/EP089434.
Authors: Davis AE, Smyers ME, Beltz L, Mehta DM, Britton SL, Koch LG, Novak CM
In collaboration with Kent State University.

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Congratulations to Dr. John Turner! 2020 marked his 50th year of service to the University; he received his 50th Year service pin this past week.

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2020 marked Dr. George Cicila's 25th year of service; he also received a 25th Year service pin this past week. 

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2020 marked Melody Knotts' 20th year of service; she also received a 20th Year service pin this past week.

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Dr. Bina Joe has been elected as a Board Member of the Greater Toledo Community Foundation. Click on the link for more information.https://www.toledocf.org/who-we-are/leadership-team/

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Congratulations to Drs. Piu Saha and Tao Yang for securing the highly competitive Career Development Grants from the American Heart Association!

Dr. Tao Yang’s grant scored a 1.6 percentile and Dr. Saha’s 8 percentile, both in their first attempts. We are proud of their exceptional nationally competitive performance and success.

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It is notable that our newest faculty member, Dr. Jasenka Zubcevic has been invited for federal government grant review by the Integrative Vascular Physiology and Pathology study section of the NIH council for scientific review.
Congratulations Dr. Zubcevic!

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Dr. Bina Joe was invited to participate in the NHLBI/NIH workshop entitled “Toward Precision Medicine: Circadian Rhythm of Blood Pressure and Chronotherapy for Hypertension,” which will be held  October 27 - 29, 2021. This will be a three half-day virtual workshop (12 pm – 4 pm EST).

 The purpose of the workshop is to review the state of the current science and evidence for links between circadian rhythms in blood pressure regulation and chronotherapy for hypertension and identify research gaps and opportunities which are inhibiting progress in understanding these important connections. It is expected that the workshop participants will be involved in writing/contributing to an Executive Summary of the workshop, which will be published in a major journal in the field. 

There will be six sessions in this workshop: (1) Phenotypic Manifestations of Circadian Rhythm of Blood Pressure, (2) Abnormal Circadian Rhythm of Blood Pressure, Target Organ Damage, and Disease, (3) Mechanisms Influencing Circadian Rhythm of Blood Pressure, (4) Additional Factors Associated with Circadian Rhythm of Blood Pressure, (5) Interventions, and (6) Breakout Sessions and Summary.

She was also invited to participate as a speaker for the forth session entitled “Additional Factors Associated with Circadian Rhythm of Blood Pressure” on Oct 28 (Thurs) and speak on the tentative topic of ‘Animal: Microbiome’. 

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A hearty congratulations to all of our students that graduated and won several awards! Amit, Emily, Ishan, Jonnelle, Moiz, Sarah and Sudipta: we are so proud of you! Jonnelle was selected to be the keynote speaker for the Multicultural Graduation Ceremony on May 6, 2021.

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 Congratulations to Dr. Xi Cheng! He has been appointed as an Associate Editor of Physiological Genomics. His term begins July 1st.

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A warm welcome to Dr. Jasenka Zubcevic! She joins us from the University of Florida with multiple NIH grants and a rich expertise in electrophysiology. Her research focuses on  Cardiovascular pathophysiology, autonomic neuroscience, regulation of blood pressure in health and hypertension, immune system in hypertension, gut dysbiosis and host-microbiota interaction in health and hypertension. We are excited for her to join our team!

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Congratulations to Dr. Matam Vijay-Kumar!  He was honored at a recent event by  President Postel for Scholarly Productivity in Publications. Well, done!

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Recently Dr. Jennifer Hill gave a talk titled, "Insulin, Fertility and the Brain" at University of Iowa, Carver College of Iowa, in the Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology. 

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Drs. Lauren Koch, Matam Vijay-Kumar and Bina Joe were honored during an awards ceremony with President Gregory Postel during a reception for faculty who have demonstrated exceptional success in attracting external support for research and scholarship over the past three years.

Congratulations to Dr. Camilla Ferreira Wenceslau! She is the newest editorial board member of the APS's Physiological Reviews Early Career Editorial Board.

She also has been invited to speak in June for the Department of Physiology & Biophysics at the University of Mississippi Medical Center seminar series: “Microbiota are critical for vascular physiology".

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Congratulations to Dr. Lauren G. Koch! She recently had a paper published in  International Journal of Molecular Sciences in a special issue Molecular Mechanisms of Cerebrovascular Diseases (2021 Apr 26;22(9):4489) with collaborators at the University of Michigan Department of Neurosurgery.

Title: “Hydrocephalus Following Experimental Subarachnoid Hemorrhage in Rats with Different Aerobic Capacity.”  

Yasunori Toyota  1 , Hajime Shishido  1 , Fenghui Ye  1 , Lauren G Koch  2 , Steven L Britton  3 , Hugh J L Garton  1 , Richard F Keep  1 , Guohua Xi  1 , Ya Hua  1

Abstract:
Low aerobic capacity is considered to be a risk factor for stroke, while the mechanisms underlying the phenomenon are still unclear. The current study looked into the impacts of different aerobic capacities on early brain injury in a subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) model using rats bred for high and low aerobic capacity (high-capacity runners, HCR; low-capacity runners, LCR). SAH was modeled with endovascular perforation in HCR and LCR rats. Twenty-four hours after SAH, the rats underwent behavioral testing and MRI, and were then euthanized. The brains were used to investigate ventricular wall damage, blood-brain barrier breakdown, oxidative stress, and hemoglobin scavenging. The LCR rats had worse SAH grades (p < 0.01), ventricular dilatation (p < 0.01), ventricular wall damage (p < 0.01), and behavioral scores (p < 0.01). The periventricular expression of HO-1 and CD163 was significantly increased in LCR rats (p < 0.01 each). CD163-positive cells were co-localized with HO-1-positive cells. The LCR rats had greater early brain injuries than HCR rats. The LCR rats had more serious SAH and extensive ventricular wall damage that evolved more frequently into hydrocephalus. This may reflect changes in iron handling and neuroinflammation.

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 Dr. Lauren Gerard Koch’s research and the low (LCR) and high (HCR) exercise capacity rats  featured  research news from the National Institute on Aging at NIH in article titled, “Mitochondrial health is linked to longer life in female rats with high exercise capacity.”

https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/mitochondrial-health-linked-longer-life-female-rats-high-exercise-capacity?utm_source=nia-eblast&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news-20210426

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Next month, Dr. Camilla Ferreira Wenceslau has been invited to present at the Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center (CVRC) seminar series: "Microbiota are critical for vascular physiology". University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA.

They have also invited her to give the 2021 Vascular Biology Lecture: “Vascular Sepsis”. The Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center (CVRC). University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA.

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A hearty congratulations to Phys/Pharm joint faculty member, Dr. Beata Lecka-Czernik! She was selected to receive an Outstanding Faculty Research and Scholarship Award due to her "highly acclaimed research in diabetic bone disease and osteoporosis."  The committee said that her work in bone physiology and function, and in particular her discoveries about the relation between thiazolidinediones and bone loss, have contributed to her success as a scholar at the University of Toledo.

The Outstanding Faculty Research and Scholarship Award recipients receive a monetary prize and a certificate of recognition. Well done!

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Faculty members from the department are to be honored by President Gregory Postel, Provost Karen Bjorkman and Vice President of Research Frank Calzonetti at an upcoming reception.  This is to recognize those who have demonstrated exceptional success in attracting external support for research and scholarship over the past three years. This is a select group of faculty members who have brought in significant external funding during this period.

Congratulations to Dr. Lauren Koch, Dr. Matam Vijay-Kumar and Dr. Bina Joe!
 
President Postel is also honoring faculty at a separate event for their Scholarly Productivity in Publications. Dr. Matam Vijay-Kumar is being honored at this event. So, double congratulations to Dr. Vijay-Kumar!

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Sachin Aryal, Leah Stevenson and  Ishan Manandhar from the AI/Machine Learning Lab took part in the Association of Bioinformaticists and Computational Biologist (ABCB)'s Bioinformatics Hackathon. It was organized by CDRL lab in Neuroscience Department at UT from April14-16 , 2021. They represented one of 4 teams that competed, two of which were from other Universities. Results are still awaited.

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Dr. Camilla Ferreira Wenceslau was selected for the APS CV Section awards committee. Her term begins 5/1/21 and ends 4/30/2024. Congratulations!

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Congratulations to Dr. Bina Joe and team for recently accepted publications:

• Denisha Spires, Oleg Palygin, Vladislav Levchenko, Elena Isaeva, Christine A. Klemens, Sherif Khedr, Oksana Nikolaienko, Alison J. Kriegel, Xi Cheng, Jiyoun Yeo, Bina Joe  manuscript "Sexual dimorphism in the progression of type 2 diabetic kidney disease in T2DN rats.  Physiological Genomics

Zubcevic J and Joe B. "Ain't no sunshine when they're gone: Rendering the gut microbiota 'homeless' by cecectomy reveals their true thermogenic potential". FUNCTION 

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Congratulations to Dr. Koch and team for recently accepted publications: 

• "Skeletal Muscle Heme Oxygenase-1 Activity Regulates Aerobic Capacity” at Cell Reports to be published April 20. Access at  Cell Reports homepage and Science Direct. Paper is a collaborative study with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School.
• “Rats with elevated genetic risk for metabolic syndrome exhibit cognitive deficiencies when young” published Online ahead of print April 7 in Physiology & Behavior. Access at  Science Direct.  Paper is a collaborative study with Univ of Jyvaskyla, Finland.

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Congratulations to Dr. Jasenka Zubcevic and Dr. Tao Yang! Their work is recognized as a top cited article by Acta Physiologica. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/apha.13256?elq_mid=50542&elq_cid=29710775&elqCampaignId=32401&utm_campaign=32401&utm_source=eloquaEmail&utm_medium=email&utm_content=EM1_Batch1_Author_FY21_Q4_RM-PORT__Top%20Cited%20Author%20Campaign_R534M2R&elqTrack=true

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Congratulations to Dr. Jennifer Hill and team! Their lab's latest review article has been released as part of a Special Issue by the Journal of Neuroendocrinology. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jne.12930

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Congratulations to Anish Gupta! Anish has been selected by 'Ohio Academy of Science' for oral presentations at 'National OJSHS'.  He is one of the six statewide finalists to go to the national competition.  His work was also selected for the 'Regeneration International & Engineering Fair', which international competition involves 70 countries.  His achievements were showcased in a Blade article published on April 10th.  Anish is a Northview High School student in Dr. Chakravarti's lab.

https://www.toledoblade.com/local/education/2021/04/10/sylvania-students-finalists-for-international-science-fair/stories/20210407117

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Congratulations to Dr. Camilla Ferreira Wenceslau! She has been selected as a Standing Member for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Integrative Vascular Physiology and Pathology (IVPP) Study Section for 6 years.

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Congratulations to Dr. Xi Cheng!  His proposal titled, "Identification and Characterization of Risk Factors for Cardio-renal Anemia Syndrome', was funded through the Oracle for Research in the amount of $50,000 for one year.

Congratulations again to Dr. Xi Cheng! His grant pre-proposal entitled, "A Novel Artificial Intelligence Strategy Using Wild Fish Fecal Microbiota to Detect Environmental Stress in Lake Erie", was invited for submission of a full proposal

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Congratulations to Dr. Beng San Yeoh, a postdoctoral to faculty transition fellow in Dr. Matam Vijay-Kumar’s laboratory. His grant application to the AHA titled ‘Interplay between gut microbiota and bile acids in renal and vascular pathophysiology’ was selected for postdoctoral grant funding awarded by the AHA from April 1, 2021 to 2023.  This was his first attempt. Congratulations Beng!

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 We are pleased to announce that this review article developed during last summer as a collaborative work between our Department and the Department of Medical Education was finally accepted for publication last week in the journal ‘Current Hypertension Reports’. Congratulations to Rachel for her excellent team work.

Impact of Nutritional Epigenetics in Essential Hypertension: Targeting microRNAs in the Gut-Liver Axis
Rachel M. Golonka1, Johnathan Kawika Cooper2,#, Rochell Issa2,#, Pratyush Pavan Devarasetty2,#, Veda Gokula2, Joshua Busken2, Jasenka Zubcevic1, 3, Jennifer Hill1, Matam Vijay-Kumar1, Bindu Menon4,*, Bina Joe1,*
1 Microbiome Consortium, Center for Hypertension and Precision Medicine, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences, Toledo, OH, United States
2 The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences, Toledo, OH, United States
3 Department of Physiological Sciences and Center for Environmental and Human Toxicology, University of Florida Genetics Institute, Interdisciplinary Program in Biomedical Sciences Neuroscience, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA.
4 Department of Medical Education, The University of Toledo College of Medicine, Toledo, OH, United States
 
# Equally contributed authors

Abstract
Purpose of Review To review the current knowledge on interactions between dietary factors and microRNAs (miRNAs) in essential hypertension (EH) pathogenesis.
Recent Findings There exists an integration of maintenance signals generated by genetic, epigenetic, immune, and environmental (e.g., dietary) factors that work to sustain balance in the gut-liver axis. It is well-established that an imbalance in this complex, intertwined system substantially increases the risk for EH. As such, pertinent research has been taken to decipher how each signal operates in isolation and together in EH progression. Recent literature indicates that both macro- and micronutrients interrupt regulatory miRNA expressions and thus, alter multiple cellular processes that contribute to EH and its comorbidities. We highlight how carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, salt, and potassium modify miRNA signatures during EH. The disruption in miRNA expression can negatively impact communication systems such as over activating the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, modulating the vascular smooth muscle cell phenotype, and promoting angiogenesis to favor EH. We also delineate the prognostic value of miRNAs in EH and discuss the pros and cons of surgical vs dietary prophylactic approaches in EH prevention.
Summary We propose that dietary-dependent perturbation of the miRNA profile is one mechanism within the gut-liver axis that dictates EH development.
Keywords: Gut Microbiome; Vasculature; Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System; Hyperlipidemia; Bariatric Surgery

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A shout out to all our students who did an excellent job at this year's GRF.  Congratulations to all the finalists, Mitchell, Rachel and Jonnelle, all of whom went on to win awards.   Here are the details: 

GRF 2021 Poster Session Finalists and Winners

 Fathima Dhilhani Mohammed Faleel

Sukanya Chakravarty

Smrithi Sugumaran Menon (Second Place)

Sara Moore (Third Place)

Mitchell Harberson  Trainee of Dr. Jennifer W. Hill

Rachel Golonka (First Place) Trainee of Dr. Matam Vijay-Kumar

 

 

GRF 2021 Oral Session Finalists and Winners

 Joshua Breidenbach (First Place Tie)

Jonnelle Edwards (Second Place) Trainee of Dr. Camilla Ferreira Wenceslau

Kathryn Becker (First Place Tie)

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 A big thank you to the qualifying round judges, the challengers’ advisors, and a special thank you to Dr. Michael Toland for providing additional time and space for practice and feedback to the challengers.
 
Listed in alphabetical order by first name are the 8 finalists for the 4th Annual 3MT® Competition at The University of Toledo, sponsored by the College of Graduate Studies:

 

• Afnan M. Alrshed—Judith Herb College of Education
• Faculty Advisor: Dr. Vicki Dagostino-Kalniz
• Briana Maktabi—College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Faculty Advisor: Dr. Gabriella Baki
• Brittany Jones—College of Arts and Letters
• Faculty Advisor: Drs. Sujatta Shetty and Neil Reid
• Holly Eichner—Judith Herb College of Education
• Faculty Advisor: Dr. Revathy Kumar
• Parul Baranwal—College of Engineering
• Faculty Advisor: Dr. Youngwoo Seo
• Sachin Aryal—College of Medicine and Life Sciences
• Faculty Advisor: Dr. Bina Joe
• Sarah Long—Judith Herb College of Education
• Faculty Advisor: Dr. Revathy Kumar
• Timothy DeGriselles—College of Arts and Letters
• Faculty Advisor: Dr. John Sarnecki

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Dr. Ritu Chakravarti, Assistant Professor and MOME Track Director was recently invited to speak at the University of Puerto Rico-Cajey's virtual seminar on February 25th. Her talk was titled, "Discovering Novel Functions of 14-3-3z in Autoimmunity."

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A large collection of articles from our department were featured by the editors of Hypertension on the topic of Gut Microbiome. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.121.16874 

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Congratulations to Jonnelle Edwards, trainee of Dr. Camilla Ferreira Wenceslau! She was
selected for an oral presentation for the UT Graduate Research Forum 2021. Well done!

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Congrats to Dr. Cameron McCarthy and Team for their new publication!

Innate Immune Cells and Hypertension: Neutrophils and Neutrophil
Extracellular Traps (NETs)

Authors
Cameron G McCarthy, Piu Saha,, Rachel M Golonka, Camilla F Wenceslau, Bina Joe,
Matam Vijay-Kumar

Abstract

Uncontrolled immune system activation amplifies end-organ injury in hypertension. Nonetheless, the
exact mechanisms initiating this exacerbated inflammatory response, thereby
contributing to further increases in blood pressure (BP), are still being
revealed. While participation of lymphoid-derived immune cells has been well
described in the hypertension literature, the mechanisms by which myeloid-derived
innate immune cells contribute to T cell activation, and subsequent BP
elevation, remains an active area of investigation. In this article, we
critically analyze the literature to understand how monocytes, macrophages,
dendritic cells, and polymorphonuclear leukocytes, including mast cells,
eosinophils, basophils, and neutrophils, contribute to hypertension and
hypertension-associated end-organ injury. The most abundant leukocytes,
neutrophils, are indisputably increased in hypertension. However, it is unknown
how (and why) they switch from critical first responders of the innate immune
system, and homeostatic regulators of BP, to tissue-damaging, pro-hypertensive
mediators. We propose that myeloperoxidase-derived pro-oxidants, neutrophil
elastase, neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), and interactions with other
innate and adaptive immune cells are novel mechanisms that could contribute to
the inflammatory cascade in hypertension. We further posit that the gut
microbiota serves as a set point for neutropoiesis and their function. Finally,
given that hypertension appears to be a key risk factor for morbidity and
mortality in COVID-19 patients, we put forth evidence that neutrophils and NETs
cause cardiovascular injury post-coronavirus infection, and thus may be
proposed as an intriguing therapeutic target for high-risk individuals.

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Congratulations to Dr. Ritu Chakravarti for securing funding through the Ohio Department of Health for COVID-19 research! Dr. Chakravarti and her collaborators (Dr. Saurabh Chattopadhyay, Dr. Daewook Kang, and Dr. Travis Taylor) will lead a significant effort to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 at The University of Toledo. This project is in collaboration with the Ohio Department of Health, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA),  Ohio Water Resources Center (Ohio WRC) at The Ohio State University. Their will team will monitor SARS CoV-2 RNA levels in wastewater collected at various parts of the University of Toledo Campus. The results will guide UT’s policy for the students’ COVID-19 testing.

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Dr. Camilla Ferreira Wenceslau, who is already a member of the Editorial Board of AJP-Heart and Circulatory Physiology has been elevated to the status of a Consulting Editor.   Congratulations!

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A hearty congratulations to  Sachin Aryal and Ishan Manandhar! Their abstracts have been accepted for oral presentation during the UToledo Graduate Research Forum 2021. They are both trainees of Dr. Bina Joe and Dr. Xi Cheng. 

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Well done! Congratulations to the Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning (ML) Lab lead by Dr. Xi Cheng! Their review work on the potential application of AI & ML to COVID-19 research hit a record from among all the journals of the American Physiological Society as  one of the Top 5 Most Read Articles list in 2020. This article was co-authored by 3 of our bioinformatics Masters students, Dr. Bina Joe and Dr. Patricia Munroe, who is a Professor at the Queen Mary University in London, UK, and holds an Adjunct Professor position at the University of Toledo. Well Done Team AI!

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Congratulations to Dr. Lauren Koch for a new manuscript published in Experimental Physiology titled: “Low responders to endurance training exhibit impaired hypertrophy and divergent biological process responses in rat skeletal muscle.”

Authors:
Daniel West, Thomas M Doering, Jamie-Lee M Thompson, Boris Patrick Budiono, Sarah Lessard, Lauren G Koch, Steven L Britton, Roland Steck, Nuala M Byrne, Matthew A Brown, Jonathan Peake, Kevin J Ashton, and Vernon G Coffey
The study was done in collaboration with researchers from Bond University and other institutions in Australia.

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Ishan Manandhar, a trainee in the Joe lab, was selected for oral presentation at Virtual Experimental Biology 2021! The title of his abstract is, " Machine Learning of Gut Microbiome Composition for Diagnostic Classification of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases" and will be presented during the session: Translational Physiology Showcase - Pathophysiological Response to External stressors, Covid-19, Cancer therapy and beyond.

Congratulations, Ishan!

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Three of our MOME track students were selected to receive Graduate Student Association Research Awards for the academic year 2020-21.

Hearty Congratulations to: 
Rachel Golonka from Dr. Matam Vijay Kumar's Lab
Moiz Hasan from Dr. Lauren Koch's Lab and
Sudipta Baroi from Dr. Beata Lecka-Czernik's Lab

Well done, all of you!

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Congratulations to Jonnelle Edwards!  Jonnelle's first-authored manuscript was accepted for publication on January 22, 2021.   Edwards JM, Roy S, Galla S, Tomcho J, Bearss N, Waigi E, Mell B, Cheng X, Saha P, Vijay-Kumar M, McCarthy CG, Joe B, & Wenceslau CF. Formyl Peptide Receptor-1 Activation Promotes Premature, Spontaneous Hypertension in Dahl Salt Sensitive Rats. Hypertension. Accepted 2021 Jan 22.

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Congratulations to Sachin Aryal and Ishan Manandhar! Sachin and Ishan are trainees from the Joe lab and have been accepted for oral presentations at the 52nd Annual Midwest Student Biomedical Research Forum (MSBRF). The Forum will be held virtually on Saturday, February 27, 2021.

Well done, Sachin and Ishan!

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Dr. Camilla Ferreira Wenceslau and Dr. Cameron McCarthy were both invited to join the AJP-Heart and Circulatory Physiology Editorial Board. This appointment to the Editorial Board will be for one year, renewable annually. 

Editorial Board members are selected based on scientific expertise, commitment as reviewers for AJP-Heart and Circ, and recognized stature in the field.

Congratulations!

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Dr. Camilla Ferreira Wenceslau has  received notice of award on a brand new R01 grant! Congratulations! She has been awarded funding by the NHLBI for her R01 submission titled, "Formyl peptide receptor activation induces vascular plasticity and remodeling in hypertension."  The project period is 1-15-2021 through 12-31-2025.

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Dr. Matam Vijay Kumar was invited to give a plenary talk during the ASIOA meeting held last week. The talk was titled, "Gut Microbiota in Health and Disease: A Documentary on Toll-like Receptor 5 deficient mice." It is notable that Vijay was a speaker in the same session as another prominent researcher in immunology, Dr. Rafi Ahmad from Emory University.

Dr. Piu Saha from Dr. Vijay Kumar's lab also presented during the Microbiology & Infectious Diseases Session of the ASIOA meeting.

Her presentation was titled, "Enterobactin, a bacterial siderophoreinduces pro-inflammatorysignature in intestinal epithelial cells in part via formylpeptide receptor" and she placed 2nd for Oral Presentation in the Post-doctoral Fellow Category. Well done!

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Congrats to the Machine Learning Lab and their most recent manuscript accepted to the American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology!

Title: Gut microbiome-based supervised machine learning for clinical diagnosis of inflammatory bowel diseases. 
                     

Authors: Ishan Manandhar, Ahmad Alimadadi, Sachin Aryal, Patricia B. Munroe, Bina Joe, and Xi Cheng

Abstract
Despite the availability of various diagnostic tests for inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), misdiagnosis of IBD occurs frequently, and thus there is a clinical need to further improve the diagnosis of IBD. As gut dysbiosis is reported in IBD patients, we hypothesized that supervised machine learning (ML) could be used to analyze gut microbiome data for predictive diagnostics of IBD. To test our hypothesis, fecal 16S metagenomic data of 729 IBD and 700 non-IBD subjects from the American Gut Project were analyzed using five different ML algorithms. Fifty differential bacterial taxa were identified (LEfSe: LDA > 3) between the IBD and non-IBD groups, and ML classifications trained with these taxonomic features using random forest (RF) achieved a testing AUC of ~0.80. Next, we tested if operational taxonomic units (OTUs), instead of bacterial taxa, could be used as ML features for diagnostic classification of IBD. Top 500 high-variance OTUs were used for ML training and an improved testing AUC of ~0.82 (RF) was achieved. Lastly, we tested if supervised ML could be used for differentiating Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). Using 331 CD and 141 UC samples, 117 differential bacterial taxa (LEfSe: LDA > 3) were identified, and the RF model trained with differential taxonomic features or high-variance OTU features achieved a testing AUC > 0.90. In summary, our study demonstrates the promising potential of artificial intelligence via supervised ML modeling for predictive diagnostics of IBD using gut microbiome data.

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Congrats to the 2020 Chair’s Awards for excellence in leadership, mentoring and scholarship:
 
Post-Doctoral TLC Leadership Award - Dr. Cameron McCarthy
Post-Doctoral Mentoring Leadership Award - Dr. Xi Cheng
Pre-Doctoral Leadership Award – Ms. Rachel Golonka
1st Place Scholarly Excellence - Dr. Piu Saha
2nd Place (shared)Scholarly Excellence - Dr. Saroj Chakraborty
2nd Place (shared) Scholarly Excellence – Mr. Sachin Aryal

These monetary awards were made possible by generous donations of Alkali Scientific.

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Congratulations to Dr. Lauren Gerard Koch and NIH intramural collaborators from the National Institute on Aging, Laboratory of Cardiovascular Science and Translational Gerontology Branch, for their article “Mitochondrial health is enhanced in rats with higher vs. lower intrinsic exercise capacity and extended lifespan” published in npj Aging and Mechanisms of Disease on 1/4/2021.
 
Miguel A. Aon, Sonia Cortassa, Magdalena Juhaszova, José A. González-Reyes, Miguel Calvo-Rubio, José M. Villalba, Andrew D. Lachance, Bruce D. Ziman, Sarah J. Mitchell, Kelsey N. Murt, Jessie E. C. Axsom, Irene Alfaras, Steven L. Britton, Lauren G. Koch, Rafael de Cabo, Edward G. Lakatta and Steven J. Sollott.
 
Abstract: The intrinsic aerobic capacity of an organism is thought to play a role in aging and longevity. Maximal respiratory rate capacity, a metabolic performance measure, is one of the best predictors of cardiovascular- and all-cause mortality. Rats selectively bred for high-(HCR) vs. low-(LCR) intrinsic running-endurance capacity have up to 31% longer lifespan. We found that positive changes in indices of mitochondrial health in cardiomyocytes (respiratory reserve, maximal respiratory capacity, resistance to mitochondrial permeability transition, autophagy/mitophagy, and higher lipids-over-glucose utilization) are uniformly associated with the extended longevity in HCR vs. LCR female rats. Cross-sectional heart metabolomics revealed pathways from lipid metabolism in the heart, which were significantly enriched by a select group of strain-dependent metabolites, consistent with enhanced lipids utilization by HCR cardiomyocytes. Heart–liver–serum metabolomics further revealed shunting of lipidic substrates between the liver and heart via serum during aging. Thus, mitochondrial health in cardiomyocytes is associated with extended longevity in rats with higher intrinsic exercise capacity and, probably, these findings can be translated to other populations as predictors of outcomes of health and survival.

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Perspective Article was written about Dr Camilla Ferreira Wenceslau's Function paper by Dr. Austin Robinson, from Auburn University.
View the article here: https://academic.oup.com/function/advance-article/doi/10.1093/function/zqaa039/6053790