USF Heart Institute

Our Faculty

Future Plans
Water Street Construction Live Webcam

Water Street Live View

Make a Gift

Featured Faculty

Ronald R. Magness

Ronald R. Magness, PHD

Director, College of Medicine Obstetrics & Gynecology
  • I have built a research group and pioneered work on vascular biology changes during pregnancy with a particular emphasis on endothelial NO and angiogenesis via ATP, placental growth factors (VEG/FGF-2), and shear stress. My expertise is in uterine, fetal and placental physiology and cardiovascular function and my lab have developed numerous in vivo physiological and in vitro models centered on uteroplacental and fetoplacental vascular biology. The Magness lab has also made major models contributions and provided extensive experience in studying uterine, systemic and placental vascular modeling, and blood vessel development as it relates to placental derived steroid and angiogenic growth factor regulation of endothelial and vascular smooth muscle function.
Read More...
Timo Rieg

Timo Rieg, MD

Associate Professor, College of Medicine Molecular Pharmacology & Physiology
  • The main areas of Dr. Rieg's research interests are the physiology and pathophysiology of the kidney and intestine. He successfully contributed to various projects related to aspects of kidney and intestinal function using a variety of genetically modified models. His research focuses on the characterization of channels, transporters, receptors and signaling molecules in the physiology and pathophysiology of the kidney including arterial hypertension. His work is instrumental in determining the physiology of sodium-glucose cotransporters and the pharmacology of SGLT2 inhibitors. Methods used to study aspects of the kidney function include: metabolic balance studies, clearance and micropuncture studies in anesthetized mice as well as measurement of glomerular filtration rate in awake mice using single-bolus technique and a two-compartment kinetic model.
Read More...

Congratulations to Dr. Breslin!

We would like to congratulate Dr. Jerome Breslin, who has been elected as President-Elect of the Microcirculatory Society. The link to the Microcirculatory Society’s website is listed here for reference: https://www.microcirc.org/ . Dr. Breslin will lead the Microcirculatory Society in its mission to “actively encourage and promote all forms of innovative research and teaching, leading to an increase in understanding of microcirculatory function in health and disease.” This is a prestigious honor and we are very proud to have Dr. Breslin on our team. Congratulations!

Congratulations to Dr. Totary-Jain!

Dr. Hana Totary-Jain has been selected as the winner of the 2020 Alan T. Hirsch, MD Mid-Career Award in Vascular Medicine. Dr. Totary-Jain is an Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology and her lab focuses on non-coding RNAs and their regulatory role in cardiovascular diseases. _ _This award will be presented during the AHA Vascular Discovery: From Genes to Medicine Scientific Sessions 2020.

The title of her talk: "Design and delivery of microRNA switches to treat cardiovascular diseases".
We are very proud of this accomplishment;
Congratulations, Dr. Totary-Jain!”
Video: Link here
Video/image Description: 3D confocal image from whole mount of mouse wire-injured femoral arteries 48 hours after a single intravenous injection of niRFP mRNA-p5RHH nanoparticle.

Dr. Bibhu Mohanty - Tips on Heart Health
Surface TAS2R14-WT expression with DPD treatment in HEK293T cells

Articles

β-Arrestin2 oligomers impair the clearance of pathological tau and increase tau aggregates
Multiple G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are targets in the treatment of dementia, and the arrestins are common to their signaling. β-Arrestin2 was significantly increased in brains of patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD-tau), a disease second to Alzheimer’s as a cause of dementia. Genetic loss and overexpression experiments using genetically encoded reporters and defined mutant constructs in vitro, and in cell lines, primary neurons, and tau P301S mice crossed with β-arrestin2−/− mice, show that β-arrestin2 stabilizes pathogenic tau and promotes tau aggregation.

Modulation of LIN28B/Let-7 Signaling by Propranolol Contributes to Infantile Hemangioma Involution
Infantile hemangiomas (IHs) are the most common benign vascular neoplasms of infancy, characterized by a rapid growth phase followed by a spontaneous involution, or triggered by propranolol treatment by poorly understood mechanisms. LIN28/let-7 axis plays a central role in the regulation of stem cell self-renewal and tumorigenesis. However, the role of LIN28B/let-7 signaling in IH pathogenesis has not yet been elucidated.

USF Health Institute News

More faculty engage in NIH, VA grant review as academic medical center grows
8/30/2020
The number of faculty members serving on National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Veterans Affairs (VA) study sections continues to grow as more federally-funded investigators join USF Health – a testament to the growing strength of the only academic medical center on Florida’s West Coast. Data from … [read more]
USF Health expands cardiovascular programs across patient care, research and education
8/17/2020
The targeted growth will help extend the reach of the academic medical center into national spotlight. In just over eight months, Guilherme Oliveira, MD, MBA, has reimagined USF Health’s cardiovascular program and established the foundations of a new cardiovascular institute – a collaboration of the … [read more]
Study led by USF Health-TGH finds clot permeability linked with first-attempt success of aspiration thrombectomy to open blocked brain vessel
8/10/2020
The multicenter posthoc analysis of COMPASS trial data focuses on two clot-removal approaches to major strokes caused by large vessel occlusion . TAMPA, Fla. (Aug. 10, 2020) – In certain patients suffering a severe ischemic stroke, a mechanical device can be used to remove a clot blocking blood flow … [read more]
Read More News Stories...