The Vasculome: From Many, One

The Vasculome: From Many, One introduces the fundamental bases of the "unity in diversity" of the Vasculome, from the coming together of various cell lineages during development, to its deceptively simple solution for architectural design: the efficient interplay of a few types of building blocks supporting key similar functions throughout the body and their highly specialized functional local variations. Specific examples are included to illustrate how the Vasculome is integral to the function and malfunction of different organs, such as the brain or the kidney.

Each section is preceded by an introductory summary that will give a high level unified view of the key concepts illustrated in the various chapters in that section.

Author: Zorina S. Galis
Publisher: Academic Press
Published: 06/14/2022
Binding Type: Paperback
ISBN: 9780128225462

About the Author
Galis, Zorina: - Dr. Zorina Galis is currently the Chief of the Vascular Biology and Hypertension Branch (VBHB), Division of Cardiovascular Sciences (DCVS), National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD. She joined the Cardiology Division of Emory University Medical School in 1995 after completing a post-doctoral scholarship and after holding a junior faculty appointment in Vascular Medicine at Harvard University Medical School in Boston. She received her Ph.D. in Pathology from McGill University School of Medicine, Montreal, Canada. Dr. Galis had previous undergraduate training in Physics and graduate training in Biophysics and Cell Biology from the University of Bucharest, Romania. Dr. Galis is also a member of the Biomedical Engineering Department, formed jointly in 1998 by the Emory School of Medicine and the Georgia Institute of Technology. She also holds an adjunct position in the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Biology.

Dr. Galis is a vascular biologist with a special interest in factors that regulate physiological and pathological reshaping of vascular tissue. Of special interest is the pathological weakening of vascular tissue due to enzymes specialized in degradation of the extracellular matrix, called matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). During atherosclerosis, weakening of diseased blood vessels ultimately leads to disruption of plaques, a process shown to be responsible for the great majority of heart attacks and strokes. Similarly, degradation of the extracellular matrix of engineered blood vessel constructs can compromise their utility. However, maintaining the intrinsic ability to reshape in response to stimuli is essential to maintain the proper function of native and artificial blood vessels. Thus, understanding the factors that regulate vascular remodeling is essential for the prevention and treatment vascular diseases. Within the Departments of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering, and in her own laboratory, Dr. Galis trains post-doctoral fellows, as well as and graduate and undergraduate students.