Congratulations to Dr. Fenix Araujo, postdoctoral fellow in the Sonkusare lab, on her first-place award at the American Physiological Society Cardiovascular Section Outstanding Postdoctoral Trainee Competition. Fenix presented her work on the non-genomic effects of mineralocorticoid receptors.

To watch more Research in Motion videos in this series, visit the School of Medicine website research landing page

A vibrant exchange of scientific discovery and potential strategic collaboration took place February 23–24, 2026 at the University of Virginia, as researchers from AstraZeneca met with faculty from across the School of Medicine. 

The Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center and the Beirne B. Carter Center for Immunology Research hosted the two-day event, that brought together members of AstraZeneca’s Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism (CVRM) team, alongside its Respiratory & Immunology (R&I) team — including representatives from the company’s Open Innovation and Corporate Affairs teams— with UVA investigators and leadership from the School of Medicine (SOM) and the Office of the Vice President for Research (VPR). 

Strong Institutional Engagement 

The meetings reflected deep engagement on both sides. More than 60 UVA faculty laboratories submitted one-page proposals outlining innovative research programs and potential areas for collaboration with AstraZeneca. Following review, 33 labs were selected to present their science and participate in focused discussions about how future collaborations could be structured to accelerate discovery and therapeutic development. 

The breadth of science represented underscored UVA’s strengths across cardiovascular, renal, metabolic, respiratory, and immunologic research. Topics ranged from inflammatory drivers of cardiometabolic disease and immune-mediated tissue injury to biomarker discovery, advanced human model systems, translational data science, and novel therapeutic targets. 

UVA School of Medicine and Office of Research leadership were in attendance throughout the program, signaling institutional commitment to fostering high-impact academic–industry partnerships and supporting pathways that move discovery from bench to bedside. 

Science at the Interface of Disciplines 

A recurring theme of the meetings was the growing intersection between immune biology and cardiometabolic disease. Investigators from across the school of medicine highlighted advances in heart failure, vascular biology, thrombosis, and metabolic regulation. Other colleagues presented cutting-edge work in immune signaling, inflammation, host defense, and tissue homeostasis. 

AstraZeneca scientists engaged deeply with presenters, exploring how UVA’s mechanistic discoveries could align with the company’s global capabilities in drug development, translational medicine, and clinical trials. The presence of AstraZeneca’s Open Innovation Team created opportunities to discuss flexible partnership models, while Corporate Strategy leaders examined long-term alignment and portfolio integration. 

From Dialogue to Discovery 

The format emphasized interaction. Following each presentation, robust scientific discussion focused not only on experimental findings but also on practical next steps — from target validation and preclinical modeling to biomarker strategy and patient stratification. 

Networking sessions and smaller breakout meetings allowed faculty and AstraZeneca representatives to explore specific collaboration concepts in greater depth. Conversations centered on building sustainable connections designed to generate new discoveries and ultimately improve outcomes for patients worldwide. 

With strong participation, engaged institutional leadership, and cross-disciplinary scientific exchange, the February gathering marked an important milestone in strengthening ties between UVA and AstraZeneca. Participants left with a shared sense of momentum — and a commitment to advancing innovative science through collaboration in service of global patient care.

Link to Article on the UVA Research Website

Antonio Abbate, MD, PhD, a professor of medicine in the UVA Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), one of the nation’s most prestigious medical honor societies for physician-scientists.

Founded in 1908, the ASCI elects physician-scientists age 50 or younger in recognition of their significant research achievements and impact achieved. Its membership includes Nobel laureates, Lasker Award winners, and members of the National Academy of Medicine.

Dr. Abbatte will be formally inducted at the joint meeting of the ASCI, the Association of American Physicians, and the American Physician Scientists Association on April 17, 2026.

The ASCI is a nonprofit medical honor society composed of 3,500 physician-scientists across all medical specialties. Members are nominated and elected by their peers for having accomplished meritorious original, creative, and independent investigations in the clinical or allied sciences of medicine.

View the Article at the SOM Website

Understanding the origins of medication-resistant hypertension is the focus of a new research by Ariel Polizio, PhD, a scientist in the lab of Ken Walsh, PhD, professor of research in internal medicine and resident faculty in the UVA Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center. They recently published work in the journals Circulation Research and Hypertension about the impact of clonal hematopoiesis (CH) on hypertension and a promising new treatment through renal denervation.

Up to 50% of patients demonstrate resistance to medications prescribed for high blood pressure, increasing their chances of developing organ damage through mechanisms including heart failure, stroke, and fibrosis. Polizio, with training as a pharmacist and a PhD in biochemistry, recognized an opportunity to contribute to this research by working with Walsh, an expert in clonal hematopoiesis.

CH is a process wherein blood stem cells accumulate mutations over time. These mutations allow a subgroup of cells to outcompete their non-mutated counterparts. In extreme cases, over 20% of a patients’ circulating immune cells can be clones of a single mutant cell. These mutations accumulate naturally over a person’s life and, until recently, their potential impact on health was largely neglected. Walsh is at the forefront of demonstrating how CH can contribute to age-related cardiovascular disease. Hypertension cases also increase with age, leading Polizio to suspect CH could play a role in its progression.

In 2019, Polizio joined UVA from CONICET in Argentina, the country’s premier scientific program, to study the role of CH in drug-resistant hypertension. Starting the project was a challenge because Polizio was not a trained immunologist.

“I had to start over again,” he explained. “I’m fascinated by the relationship between immunology and cardiovascular disease because hypertension is a systemic disease. It involves all the organs of the body. I love UVA’s Cardiovascular Research Center because if you need something you don’t know, they can help you and complement your expertise. Now, I’ve learned a lot and have the freedom to explore diverse avenues within immunology.”

Polizio and Walsh soon identified an important gene modified by CH that was correlated with hypertension: TET2. TET2 plays a crucial role in regulating gene expression, and when mutated or deleted, it is a hallmark of age-related CH. While TET2 mutations are also observed in certain pre-leukemic and lymphoma conditions, Polizio and Walsh’s research focused on the direct impact of TET2 mutations in CH on cardiovascular health.

In the case of hypertension, Polizio and Walsh showed that TET2 mutations in mice lead to sodium retention, inflammation, and increased immune activity. The immune activity changed behavior in the kidneys, which in turn exacerbated hypertension. Using drugs to suppress the immune reaction in the kidneys also improved hypertension.

“There was the connection between CH and hypertension, but not the mechanism,” Polizio said. “I’m fascinated to know what happens from beginning to end, so this is a very exciting work.” This work was published in Circulation Research alongside an editorial article the journal commissioned to highlight the significance of the work.

In a follow-up study, Polizio went on to show that the effects of CH-exacerbated hypertension can be mitigated by renal denervation, a minimally invasive surgery that cuts a nerve in the kidneys. Renal denervation recently passed clinical trials in humans and is a method for treating medication-resistant hypertension. The work on renal denervation was published in the journal Hypertension.

Going forward, Polizio and Walsh will study how autoimmune diseases interact with CH and hypertension. Patients with systemic autoimmune diseases often suffer from hypertension, and Polizio wants to understand what role CH might be playing in the process. Additionally, though he now works in cardiology and immunology, Polizio hasn’t forgotten his scientific roots. “I’m pharmacist also, so I’m always trying to look some therapeutics to prevent the consequences of hypertension and CH.”

Learn more about the Walsh Lab at the School of Medicine’s Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine.

View the article at the SOM website

Two postdoctoral research fellows, Kelsey Watts, PhD, and Alexander Clark, PhD, in the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME), were awarded 2025 American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowships. The prestigious one- to two-year fellowships help pave the way to research independence for postdocs who are answering an investigative question in cardiovascular, cerebrovascular or brain health research.

Dr. Watts, a postdoctoral research fellow in biomedical engineering and genome sciences and a member of Mete Civelek’s Lab, will collaborate with Patricia Rodriguez-Lozano, MD, an assistant professor in the UVA Department of Medicine and director of UVA Health’s Women’s Heart Health Care Program, on a project to investigate the effect of using a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor (SGLT2i) to mitigate inflammation in women with angina with nonobstructive coronary artery disease (ANOCA).

ANOCA is more prevalent in women, and there are currently no targeted treatments for it. Watts’s work may lead to a better understanding of how to best treat female heart disease.

Dr. Clark will use the award to study gene regulatory networks that drive cardiomyocyte differentiation as a member of the UVA Cardiac Systems Biology Group with the mentorship, support, and scientific guidance of Professor Jeff Saucerman, PhD. Using multi-omic sequencing, computational modeling and induced pluripotent stem cells, Clark will explore the distinct mechanisms driving atrial versus ventricular chamber development in the heart.

View the article at the SOM website

The UVA Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics (MPBP) is proud to announce that five of its outstanding graduate students were awarded prestigious fellowships from the American Heart Association (AHA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). These competitive awards recognize their innovative research in cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, supporting their efforts to advance medical knowledge and develop new therapeutic strategies.

Zuzanna Juskiewicz (Graduate Program: Molecular Physiology, Brant Isakson Lab) was awarded the AHA Predoctoral Fellowship (January 2025 – December 2026) for her project on the mechanosensitive cationic channel Piezo2 in the lymphatic endothelium. Her research investigates how Piezo2 regulates lymphangiogenesis in adipose tissue under obesogenic conditions, with a focus on its interaction with Flt4, a gene crucial for lymphatic vessel growth. This work could offer new insights into obesity treatments by targeting lymphatic vessel expansion. The fellowship provides coverage for salary and health insurance for 2 years.

Wyatt Schug (Graduate Program: Molecular Physiology, Brant Isakson Lab) received the AHA Predoctoral Fellowship (January 2025 – December 2026). His research explores the role of basophil-endothelium interactions in cardiometabolic disease, particularly how oxidative stress and reactive oxygen species (ROS) contribute to endothelial dysfunction. By studying the link between circulating hydrogen peroxide and basophil activation, Wyatt aims to identify potential therapeutic targets for treating cardiometabolic conditions.

Skylar Loeb (Graduate Program: Molecular Physiology, Brant Isakson Lab) was awarded the NIH/NHLBI F31 Predoctoral Fellowship (April 2025 – March 2027) for her work on alpha globin expression in lymphatic endothelial cells and its role in heart failure. Her project aims to understand how alpha globin impacts lymphatic vessel permeability and cardiac inflammation, both of which contribute to the progression of heart failure.

Victoria Milosek (Graduate Program: Molecular Physiology, Gary Owens Lab) received the AHA Predoctoral Fellowship (January 2025 – December 2026) for her research on targeting interleukin-6 (IL-6) trans-signaling to increase survival from cardiovascular events, such as myocardial infarction and stroke, while preserving innate immune function during infection. Her work aims to identify potential therapeutic strategies that enhance atherosclerotic plaque stability and reduce cardiovascular events without compromising immune integrity.

Linyao (Elina) Zhou (Graduate Program: Molecular Physiology, Ling Qi-Iris Sun Lab) was awarded the AHA Predoctoral Fellowship (January 2025 – December 2026) for her research on the SEL1L-HRD1 ERAD pathway in the liver and its role in lipid metabolism. Her project aims to explore how this pathway regulates the biogenesis of ANGPTL3, a key protein involved in lipid metabolism, offering insights into potential therapies for hyperlipidemia and cardiovascular diseases.

These fellowships reflect the high caliber of research within the MPBP department and the exceptional talent of its trainees. Their work addresses some of the most pressing challenges in cardiovascular and metabolic health, and the department is proud to support their continued development as future leaders in biomedical research.

View the article at the SOM website

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 colors were they? These are comparatively easy questions– the fossilization process reliably preserves hard tissues, like teeth, claws, and bones. Other organ systems haven’t survived the intervening millennia. In his new book, “Balancing a Sauropod: The Physiology of a Dinosaur,” Dr. Brant Isakson brings his expertise in physiology, metabolism, and cardiovascular biology to create a comprehensive picture of how the largest animals in history may have functioned. “I always loved dinosaurs,” he says. “The sauropod stuck out due to its unusually long neck. There was nothing to compare it to in terms of animals today. As I got older, understanding how the neck was integrated into the overall physiology of the animal became a fun mental exercise.”

By turning to extreme physiology, “the study of adaptions an animal has made to live within an environment that is completely typical to them, but on the fringes of normal life to other species,” Dr. Isakson provides insight about how sauropods may have moved, breathed, and circulated their blood: “Giraffes and birds have fascinating adaptions that the sauropod also likely integrated into their daily life. For example, I hypothesize sauropod necks housed air sacs like those seen in modern birds, reducing the neck’s weight and improving respiratory efficiency. The fun part of all this is that as new discoveries are made, especially in the fossil record, we’ll be able to further refine our ideas of sauropod physiologies.”

As a Professor in the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, resident member of the Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center (CVRC), PI of the renowned CVRC Training Grant, and author of over 150 scholarly manuscripts, Dr. Isakson has spent his career communicating science to experts and nonexpert alike. This is reflected in “Balancing a Sauropod: The Physiology of a Dinosaur” which is written to both inform the lay reader and engage experts. “I hope both types of readers see the book as a creative exploration of what could have been,” says Dr. Isakson. “I started the book with a favorite quote about “unknown unknowns.” Those are my favorite problems to think about, and there are so many in dinosaur physiology.  The wondering and thinking and exploring is what makes kids fall in love with dinosaurs in the first place, and if I can bring that sort of joy to a reader, whether lay or scientist, I think that would be awesome.”

At the time of writing, “Balancing a Sauropod: The Physiology of a Dinosaur” is available for pre-order from all major retailers.

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 who demonstrate both prior scientific achievements and potential for future impact through novel research,” said Jay Hertel, chair of the Department of Kinesiology. “We are thrilled for Colby and Austin and look forward to following their careers.”

The program was established by Congress to recruit and retain highly qualified health professionals into biomedical or biobehavioral research careers. It repays up to $50,000 annually of a researcher’s educational debt in return for a commitment to engage in NIH mission-relevant research. According to the NIH, the funding is “an investment in the future of health discovery and the wellbeing of the nation.”

“Thanks to generous donors, teaching work, and departmental grant support, we are able to fully fund our kinesiology Ph.D. students through their doctoral training,” said Professor Sue Saliba, “but many of our students have debt associated with their undergraduate or master’s programs. These awards are a game-changer for the recipients and a testament to the high-quality, impactful research our alumni are producing.”  

Hogwood graduated in 2023 with his Ph.D. in exercise physiology. He is currently completing a post-doctoral fellowship in cardiology with UVA Health, where he and his team are researching how an anti-inflammatory treatment impacts quality of life, exercise capacity, cardiac function, and inflammatory blood activity in patients who have recently experienced a large heart attack.

“As someone from a disadvantaged background, I am eternally grateful to both the NIH and to those who have mentored me to allow me this opportunity,” he said. “Having a lower burden of student loan debt will allow me to focus more on research in an academic setting, and hopefully make a bigger difference through my scientific efforts.”

View the full article

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 1 (LRP1) signaling and its impact in treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

Improving the treatment of AMI to prevent heart failure and death remains an urgent unmet medical need. Dr. Abbate and Dr. Toldo in the Department of Medicine’s Cardiovascular Division had previously identified and characterized LRP1 for its potential to protect the heart from ischemia-reperfusion injury after AMI. They also identified LRP1 agonists such as alpha1-antitrypsin and SP16 as means to reduce infarct size in animal models and in early-stage clinical trials. However, to date the roles of LRP1 in specific cell types and the downstream pathways that explain LRP1-mediated cardioprotection have been unclear.

To solve this challenge, Abbate and Toldo have teamed with biomedical engineer Jeff Saucerman in the UVA School of Medicine and UVA Engineering schools, who has experience untangling complex biological networks in the heart. Together, they have proposed an interdisciplinary approach to studying how LRP1 protects the heart, combining computational models, cell-based experiments, and mouse models that combine drugs and cell-specific deletions of LRP1.

Already, they discovered a surprising dichotomy in how LRP1 affects the heart. While post-AMI short-term LRP1 signaling in cardiomyocytes is beneficial, long-term LRP1 signaling in fibroblasts may be detrimental. They are now studying the signaling mechanisms responsible for this dichotomy as well as devising therapeutic strategies that leverage this knowledge.

Ultimately, they expect that these computational-experimental studies will provide improved therapeutic targeting opportunities for those with acute myocardial infarction and heart failure.

View the article at the SOM website