Special Seminar: Roads, Motors, and Cargo: Journey to a New Therapy for Hypertension
Thomas A. Jepps, Ph.D, FBPHS
Associate Professor
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Physiology of Circulation, Kidney, and Lung
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Roads, Motors, and Cargo: Journey to a New Therapy for Hypertension
Date: March 11, 2025
Time: 2 p.m.
About this Seminar
Dr. Jepps will focus on the microtubule network in vascular smooth muscle cells, which acts like a road network to traffic proteins to and from the cell membrane. He will show how the microtubule network regulates the expression of key ion channels and receptors in vascular smooth muscle cells using the motor protein dynein. Furthermore, he will show how, by disrupting the microtubule network, vasodilatations that were attenuated in arteries from hypertensive rodents can be restored. Dr. Jepps will then show how, in vivo, administration of colchicine – a clinically approved drug known to disrupt the microtubule network and have cardiovascular protective effects – to hypertensive rats reduced blood pressure, improved vasodilatations, attenuated vascular remodeling and inflammation, and suppressed left ventricular fibrosis. Finally, this work has been translated to humans, where improvements in vascular conductance are observed after oral colchicine administration. Thus, this talk will aim to convince you that colchicine may be a promising therapeutic for the treatment hypertension.
You May Also Be Interested In...
-
Home Item
A Human-Centric View of Cerebellar Development , homeApril 18, 2025, 11:00 a.m. | Kathleen Millen, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Pediatrics/Genetics, Associate Director and Principal Investigator, Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute, The University of Washington School of Medicine | Co-Sponsored by the Center for Neurobiology Research, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute
-
Home Item
Molecular and Neurobiological Studies in Rett Syndrome and Other MECP2 Disorders , homeMay 1, 2025, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Huda Zoghbi, M.D., Professor, Pediatrics, Molecular and Human Genetics, Neuroscience, and Neurology; Director, Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute, Baylor College of Medicine; Member, National Academy of Medicine | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture
-
Home Item
A Novel Bispecific Antibody to Target the Brain Tumor Microenvironment , homeMay 2, 2025, 11:00 a.m. | Khuson Yun, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Neurology, Houston Methodist Chair, Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Cancer Research Center – Roanoke
-
Home Item
Transformation of Information from the External World by Cortical Circuits During Learning , homeMay 9, 2025, 11:00 a.m. | Alison Barth, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University | Co-Sponsored by the Center for Neurobiology Research, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute
-
Home Item
The Role of Exercise in Memory Function , homeMay 23, 2025, 11:00 a.m. | Henriette van Praag, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Science, Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, Florida Atlantic University | Co-Sponsored by the Center for Exercise Medicine Research, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute
-
Home Item
Pathways and Regulation of Cardiac Nav1.5 Channel Trafficking in Adult Myocytes , homeMay 30, 2025, 11:00 a.m. | Gea-Ny Tseng, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Center for Vascular and Heart Research