News

Dr. Zdravka (Ava) Daneva publishes her findings in PNAS!

Dr. Ava Daneva published a first-author paper in PNAS in April 2021. This manuscript discovers a vital role for endothelial caveolin-1:TRPV4 channel signaling in maintaining a low resting pulmonary arterial pressure. Dr. Daneva also showed that disrupted caveolin-1:TRPV4 channel signaling elevates pulmonary arterial pressure in pulmonary hypertension. Congratulations Ava and all the co-authors!!!

Dr. Yen-Lin Chen awarded an American Heart Association postdoctoral fellowship!

Dr. Yen-Lin Chen, a postdoctoral fellow in the Sonkusare lab, has been awarded a competitive two-year postdoctoral fellowship by the American Heart Association for his work on smooth muscle cell TRPV4 ion channels in blood pressure regulation. Yen-Lin`s research focuses on the role of smooth muscle TRPV4 channels in regulating blood pressure under normal and hypertensive conditions. Congratulations Yen-Lin!!!

Dr. Zhen Yan quoted in article from The New York Times, Parents` Diet and Exercise Habits, Even Before Birth, May Contribute to Child`s Well-Being

The New York Times features an article quoting Dr. Zhen Yan about the potential benefits of exercise while pregnant. Dr. Yan headed a study, Exercise during pregnancy mitigates negative effects of parental obesity on metabolic function in adult mouse offspring. You can find the study at the Journal of Applied Physiology located here.

NYTimes Article Excerpts

In other words, the genetic legacies from mothers and fathers `operate through different biological pathways,` says Zhen Yan, a professor of medicine and director of the Center for Skeletal Muscle Research at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, who oversaw the new study.

Perhaps most important, though, when the mothers ran during pregnancy, their children showed almost no undesirable metabolic outcomes as adults, whether the mother or father was obese. These offspring, metabolically and genetically, remained indistinguishable from animals born to healthy parents.

The link below goes to the full NYTimes article at https://www.nytimes.com

Owens Lab article, Discovery Reveals Potential Way to Prevent Heart Attacks, Strokes

Scientists at the School of Medicine have identified a potential way to head off heart attacks and strokes by strengthening the fibrous caps overlying atherosclerotic plaques that naturally accumulate inside our arteries. These fatty lesions can rupture, triggering blood clots that cause disability or death.

New research from the lab of UVA`s Gary K. Owens, PhD, reveals surprising new information about the makeup of the protective caps our bodies build over these lesions, and about the factors that determine their stability. This study supports recent findings that certain types of inflammation might actually help stabilize plaques. Doctors may one day be able to use these insights to strengthen the caps and prevent the plaques from rupturing.

The link below goes to the full article at https://newsroom.uvahealth.com

Yan Lab article, Exercise during pregnancy can prevent noncommunicable diseases in offspring

New research out of the University of Virginia suggests that exercise during pregnancy may significantly reduce expectant mothers` children`s chances of developing diabetes and other metabolic diseases later in life.

Zhen Yan said this research was inspired by the vast prevalence of noncommunicable diseases - such as cardiovascular diseases, metabolic diseases, depression and Alzheimer`s - that have a fetal origin and are passed from mother to child during pregnancy.

The link below goes to the full article at https://www.dailyprogress.com