By Christina Crowe
The American Heart Association’s annual Scientific Sessions meeting in Chicago, November 5-7, saw representation from researchers across both the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) and the Department of Pathology this year.
Students in the labs of researchers in both specialties presented posters across a broad spectrum of topics in the field.
Yu An Lu, graduate student in the lab of Yang Zhou, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, BME, presented a poster on, “Stage-Specific Roles of ELMSAN1 in the Control of Cardiac Cell Fate Differentiation of Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells.”
Jay Zhang, at left, with Suzanne Oparil,M.D., Division of Cardiology, UAB Department of Medicine at center.
Yong Sun (below, center), student in the BME Ph.D. program studying in the lab of Yabing Chen, Ph.D. (below, left), Jay M. McDonald Endowed Chair in Laboratory Medicine, was selected by the AHA’s Council on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology (ATVB) to receive a Young Investigator Travel Award to present an oral presentation on his work, “Inflammation and Metabolic Signals in Cardiometabolic Disease.”
Yajing Wang, M.D., Ph.D., FAHA, Professor, Biomedical Engineering and Director, Basic and Translational Research, presented on, “Nitrative Modification of Caveolin-3, a Novel Mechanism Revealing Cardiac Insulin Resistance in Ischemic Heart Failure.”
Paul Benson, M.D., Associate Professor, Division of Anatomic Pathology and Autopsy Section Head, attended to present his poster, “COVID-19 And Cardiovascular Disease Patient Hearts Harbor Sympathetic Remodeling And Altered Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 Localization.”
Jianyi “Jay” Zhang, M.D, Ph.D., T. Michael and Gillian Goodrich Endowed Chair of Engineering Leadership, UAB BME, attended the event as Chair of the Council on Basic Cardiovascular Sciences.
Adam Wende, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, served as a mentor and moderator at this year's event. Suzanne Oparil, M.D., FACC, FAHA, Distinguished Professor of Medicine, gave the conference's "Distinguished Scientific Lecture" on November 5.