Heart Institute

USF Heart Institute

Endothelial cells in culture. (Blue = Nuclei, Green = F-actin)

Microcirculation in the small intestine

Showing the extent of defensive sensory nerve innervation (shown in red) in the lungs. The green identifies the bronchiole airways that connect the trachea to the alveoli (shown in blue).

Cell bodies of vagal sensory nerves, all of which are stained with the pan-neuronal marker (shown in green). Defensive sensory nerves also express the red fluorescent protein tdTomato.

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. The award was 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".

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.

Featured Faculty

Da-Zhi Wang, PhD

Professor, USF Health Heart Institute

Thomas McDonald, MD

Professor, USF Health Heart Institute

Stephen Liggett, MD

Vice Dean for Research, Morsani College of Medicine
Associate Vice President for Research, USF Health
Professor of Internal Medicine

Ganesh Halade, PhD

Associate Professor, USF Health Heart Institute

Dr. Bibhu Mohanty - Tips on Heart Health

Surface TAS2R14-WT expression with DPD treatment in HEK293T cells

Articles

The short third intracellular loop and cytoplasmic tail of bitter taste receptors provide functionally relevant GRK phosphorylation sites in TAS2R14

The short third intracellular loop and cytoplasmic tail of bitter taste receptors provide functionally relevant GRK phosphorylation sites in TAS2R14.

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.

50-gene risk profiles in peripheral blood predict COVID-19 outcomes: A retrospective, multicenter cohort study

COVID-19 has been associated with Interstitial Lung Disease features. The immune transcriptomic overlap between Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) and COVID-19 has not been investigated.

Identification and Characterization of Novel Bronchodilator Agonists Acting at Human Airway Smooth Muscle Cell TAS2R5

Bitter taste receptors (TAS2Rs) are recognized asbeing expressed on multiple cell types and organs, includinghuman airway smooth muscle (HASM) cells, where agonistspromote significant relaxation to constrictive stimuli. Thus, theHASM TAS2Rs have been targeted as novel bronchodilators forthe treatment of asthma and other obstructive lung diseases. These studies revealed critical structural requirements for favorable potencies andefficacies for a potentialfirst-in-class bronchodilator targeting TAS2R5 of the airway.

Hippocampal and Prefrontal Cortical Brain Tissue Levels of Irisin and GDF15 Receptor Subunits in Children

Cold-stress hormones (CSHs) stimulate thermogenesis and have direct neuroprotective effects on the brain. The obligatory receptor components of two new CSHs (irisin and growth differentiation factor-15 [GDF15]) were recently discovered.

USF Health Institute News

Activated protein C can protect against age-related cardiac ischemia and reperfusion injury, preclinical study finds

1/27/2022

USF Health research discovers APC limits heart damage by preventing excessive loss of endothelial protein C receptors on the cardiac muscle cell membrane TAMPA, Fla. (Jan. 31, 2022) — A University of South Florida Health (USF Health) preclinical study offers molecular insight into how activated prot … [read more]

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Morsani College of Medicine