Our Mission
The mission of the Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center is to support interdisciplinary research in basic, translational and clinical cardiovascular sciences, including cardiovascular development, function, pathophysiology, pharmacology, genetics, genomics, and proteomics, and to apply this knowledge to better understand the causes of cardiovascular diseases and to pioneer development of new innovative therapies and approaches to prevent or treat them.
Goals and Objectives
- To support basic, translational, and clinical research that can be translated into therapies and improve patient care
- To provide resources that enhance research in cardiovascular related diseases
- To disseminate knowledge by lectures, seminars and other educational opportunities
- To support training of pre- and postgraduate students, residents and fellows in the cardiovascular sciences and cardiovascular medicine
- To help integrate cardiovascular research across labs, departments, and schools at UVA as well as with outside institutions including facilitating collaborative studies
- To assist CVRC investigators in developing a plan for translating research findings into products or procedures that benefit patients including providing advice on protecting intellectual property, establishing biotech startup companies, and licensing technology to companies
CVRC Resident Faculty Brant Isakson gets into the meat of paleontology
New book gets beyond the bare bones and fleshes out how dinosaurs’ bodies may have functioned. When we think about the science of dinosaurs, it’s often about their looks. Did they have feathers? How did their bones fit together? What … Read More
Austin Hogwood, PhD, from the Abbate Research Team Selected for the Prestigious National Institutes of Health Loan Repayment Program
Two alumni from the UVA School of Education and Human Development’s kinesiology programs, Colby Mangum and Austin Hogwood, were recently selected for the prestigious National Institutes of Health Loan Repayment Program. “This is a competitive program that awards productive scientists … Read More
Dr. Antonio Abbate, Dr. Jeff Saucerman, and Dr. Stefano Toldo Awarded $3.1 Million to Study How Treatments Targeting Lipoprotein Receptors Improve Outcomes in Heart Attacks and Heart Failure
Backed by a new four-year $3.1 million National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute grant, School of Medicine researchers Antonio Abbate, MD, PhD, Jeff Saucerman, PhD, and Stefano Toldo, PhD, have initiated a new study to examine cell-specific low-density lipoprotein receptor … Read More
Dr. Jeff Saucerman and his team have New Insights About How Heart Cells Regenerate that May Lead to New Drugs to Fix Damaged Hearts
New research from UVA Health scientists seeking to identify drugs to regenerate tissue after a heart attack is highlighting the promise of their approach. The team, led by Jeff Saucerman, PhD, previously developed a method to identify drugs that might … Read More
Dr. Lian-Wang Guo, Dr. Coleen McNamara, and Dr. Craig Kent Awarded $2.8 Million to Study New Approach for Treating Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms
New School of Medicine research led by Lian-Wang Guo, PhD, a professor of surgery; Craig Kent, MD, chief executive officer of UVA Health, executive vice president for health affairs, and professor of surgery; and Coleen McNamara, MD, a professor of … Read More
Dr. Brant Isakson of the CVRC Awarded a $2.6 Million Grant to Study the Role of Renin in Hypertension
Hypertension is the most common pathological indicator for cardiovascular diseases. The key biological system that regulates blood pressure is the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS); its dysregulation at almost any level can precipitate hypertension. For this reason, pathways in the RAAS can … Read More
CVTG RIP – Kelsey Watts, Randall Schirra, Kaitlyn Wintruba
Kelsey - Identification of sex dimorphisms in Endothelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition (endoMT) regulation in atherosclerotic disease Randall - Caveolin nanodiscs to investigate Cav-1 scaffolding Kaitlyn - Systems approaches identify drugs and genes regulating cardiomyocyte proliferation
Giuseppe Biondi-Zoccai, MD, MSTAT
From Data to Discovery: The Role of AI in Transforming Healthcare Research This talk will focus on the current and future role of AI tools in medical research, highlighting the subtleties of leveraging this powerful tool to increase efficiency and … Read More
Berne Lecture – Luisa Iruela-Arispe, PhD
Understanding Vascular Growth Kinetics At the structural level, the vascular system is a network of interconnected tubes responsible for delivering oxygen and nutrients throughout the body. While accurate, this portrayal understates the complexities inherent to its functionality. Beyond mere transportation, … Read More