Nuria Villalba Isabel, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, College of Medicine Molecular Pharmacology & Physiology

Academic Email: nvillalba@usf.edu

Education

Interdisciplinary and Emerging Signature Programs

• Cardiovascular Sciences

Research Interests

• Blood-brain barrier dysfunction in systemic inflammation:
• My research focuses on the mechanisms that connect lung infection and brain dysfunction. I study the detrimental effects that the immune response triggered by lung bacterial infection has on the highly specialized brain endothelial cells that constitute the blood-brain barrier. I use in vitro approaches using primary mouse brain endothelial cells and an in vivo mouse model of lung infection by intratracheal administration of Pseudomonas aeruginosa cultures.

Memberships

• Awards Committee (Microcirculatory Society, 2021 - Present)

Recent Publications

• Nuria Villalba, Yonggang Ma, Sarah A Gahan, Aurelie Joly-Amado, Sam Spence, Xiaoyuan Yang, Kevin R Nash, Sarah Y Yuan Lung infection by Pseudomonas aeruginosa induces neuroinflammation and blood-brain barrier dysfunction in mice Journal of Neuroinflammation. , 2023.
• Sheon Baby, Tea Reljic, Nuria Villalba, Ambuj Kumar, Sarah Y Yuan Endothelial glycocalyx-associated molecules as potential serological markers for sepsis-associated encephalopathy: A systematic review and meta-analysis PlosOne. , 2023.
• Villalba N, Sackheim AM, Lawson MA, Haines L, Chen YL, Sonkusare SK, Ma YT, Li J, Majumdar D, Bouchard BA, Boyson JE, Poynter ME, Nelson MT, Freeman K. The Polyanionic Drug Suramin Neutralizes Histones and Prevents Endotheliopathy. Journal of Immunology. , 2023.
• Ma Y, Yang X, Villalba N, Chatterjee V, Reynolds A, Spence S, Wu MH, Yuan SY. Circulating lymphocyte trafficking to the bone marrow contributes to lymphopenia in myocardial infarction. American Journal of Physiology. Heart and Circulatory Physiology. 322(4) : H622-H635, 2022.
• Yang X, Chatterjee V, Zheng E, Reynolds A, Ma Y, Villalba N, Tran T, Jung M, Smith DJ, Wu MH, Yuan SY. Burn Injury-Induced Extracellular Vesicle Production and Characteristics. Shock. , 2022.
• Yang X, Zheng E, Chatterjee V, Ma Y, Reynolds A, Villalba N, Wu MH, Yuan SY. Protein palmitoylation regulates extracellular vesicle production and function in sepsis. J Extracell Biol. , 2022.
• Yang X, Zheng E, Ma Y, Chatterjee V, Villalba N, Breslin JW, Liu R, Wu MH, Yuan SY. DHHC21 deficiency attenuates renal dysfunction during septic injury. Scientific reports. 11(1) : 11146, 2021.
• Villalba N, Baby S, Yuan SY. The Endothelial Glycocalyx as a Double-Edged Sword in Microvascular Homeostasis and Pathogenesis. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology. 9: 711003, 2021.
• Villalba N, Baby S, Cha BJ, Yuan SY. Site-specific opening of the blood-brain barrier by extracellular histones. Journal of Neuroinflammation. 17(1) : 281, 2020.
• Ma Y, Zabell T, Creasy A, Yang X, Chatterjee V, Villalba N, Kistler EB, Wu MH, Yuan SY. Gut Ischemia Reperfusion Injury Induces Lung Inflammation via Mesenteric Lymph-Mediated Neutrophil Activation. Frontiers in Immunology. 11: 586685, 2020.