Endothelial Cell Mechanical Dysfunction in Early Stage Atherosclerosis

 职位描述(由申请人提供)：PI是助理教授，也是中佛罗里达大学机械和航空航天工程系与医学院之间的首次双聘。他的背景是机械工程，他的研究经验主要集中在机械刺激哺乳动物细胞的技术开发和相关形态反应的研究上。迄今共出版了13份出版物，包括5份第一作者出版物、2本书章节和1份同等投稿。国际心血管协会有很高的动机成为心血管领域的独立研究者，但到目前为止，国际心血管协会过去的研究仅与该领域有关。此外，PI认为许多心血管疾病的最佳治疗方法是在早期阶段进行预防。例如，早期动脉粥样硬化涉及低密度脂蛋白(LDL)在内皮细胞内的进入和积聚，以及白细胞在内皮细胞之间的迁移，最终产生泡沫细胞，泡沫细胞是动脉粥样硬化斑块1-9的前体。在前面提到的内皮单层中的每一个过程中，都存在固有的细胞-细胞粘附力10-15，其作用和潜在的生物分子成分尚未被发现。因此，拟议的奖项将调查以下假设：细胞-细胞连接活性降低，细胞-细胞粘附力降低，促使低密度脂蛋白穿透增加，在流体流动受扰的情况下，白细胞跨内皮细胞迁移增加。为了检验上述假设，提出了一项培训计划，该计划将允许PI开发对以下方面至关重要的专业知识 完成了以下领域的项目：分子生物学、动脉粥样硬化和免疫学。为了确保少年派获得这些技能，少年派将由SamPath Parthasarathy博士指导。Parthasarathy博士是国际公认的动脉粥样硬化方面的权威。他发表了150多篇关于这个主题的论文(250多篇)，并写了一本关于动脉粥样硬化发病机制中的修饰脂蛋白的教科书。因此，他的指导和指导对国际和平协会的成功将是无价的。此外，PI的培训将在#年进行 位于奥兰多医学城校区的UCF医学院。这个健康和生命科学研究园区还包括桑福德-伯纳姆医学研究所、内穆尔儿童医院和退伍军人事务部奥兰多医学中心，为PI提供了理想的生物医学研究环境。成功完成这一培训奖项将使PI走上实现以下目标的职业道路：1)成为心血管领域的知名研究人员；2)获得初步数据，以申请未来的RO1资金。此外，PI的长期职业目标是建立一个由工程师、临床医生和科学家等其他独立调查人员组成的多学科研究团队，以申请PO1资金并建立一个心血管病理学研究计划，旨在开发新型的床边心血管疗法，包括在细胞水平上治疗心血管疾病。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The PI is an assistant professor and the first dual hire between the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and College of Medicine at the University of Central Florida. His background is in mechanical engineering and his research experiences have primarily focused on the development of technologies to mechanically stimulate mammalian cells and investigation of associated morphological responses. A total of thirteen publications have been produced thus far, including five first-author publications, two book chapters, and one equal contribution. The PI is highly motivated become an independent investigator in the cardiovascular field, but the PI's past research to date has only been peripherally related to the field. Furthermore, the PI believes the best treatment for many cardiovascular diseases is prevention at its earliest stages. Early stage atherosclerosis, for example, involves the entry and accumulation of low density lipoprotein (LDL) within the endothelium and leukocyte transmigration across the endothelium eventually yielding foam cells, the precursors of atherosclerotic plaques 1-9. Present during each of the previously mentioned processes within the endothelial monolayer are innate cell-cell adhesion forces10-15, whose roles and underlying biomolecular components have yet to be discovered. Therefore, the proposed award will investigate the hypothesis that decreased cell-cell junction activity decreases cell-cell adhesion forces, prompting increased LDL penetration and increased leukocyte transmigration across the endothelium under disturbed fluid flow. To test the above hypothesis a training plan is proposed that will allow the PI to develop expertise essential to the completion of this project in the following fields; molecular biology, atherosclerosis, and immunology. To ensure that the PI gains these skill sets the PI will be mentored by Dr. Sampath Parthasarathy. Dr. Parthasarathy is an internationally recognized authority on atherosclerosis. He has published over 150 papers on the topic (out of over 250) and has written a text book on "Modified Lipoproteins in the Pathogenesis of Atherosclerosis". His mentoring and guidance will therefore be invaluable to the success of the PI. Furthermore, the PI's training will take place in UCF's College of Medicine, which is located on Orlando's Medical City campus. This health and life sciences research park also includes the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, Nemour's Children Hospital, and Veterans Affairs Orlando Medical Center, providing an ideal biomedical research environment for the PI. Successful completion of this training award will put the PI on a career path to achieve the following goals; 1) to become an established investigator in the cardiovascular field and 2) obtain preliminary data to apply for future RO1 funding. In addition, the very long term career goal of the PI is to establish a multidisciplinary research tea that will consist of other independent investigators who are engineers, clinicians, and scientists to apply for PO1 funding and establish a research program in cardiovascular pathology aimed at developing novel bench-to-bedside cardiovascular therapies that would consist of treating cardiovascular disease at the cellular level.