McCree Tang L&S Biological Sciences
Unraveling the Bioelectric Control of Cardiac Vascular Regeneration
Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide, yet the adult human heart has limited regenerative capacity after injury. While most regenerative research focuses on cardiomyocytes, effective therapies remain lacking. Increasing evidence suggests that regeneration of coronary vasculature through endothelial cell (EC) proliferation is essential for cardiac recovery, but the signals regulating EC growth remain poorly understood. Preliminary work in the UCSF Cardiovascular Research Institute Huang Lab using an ex vivo heart model shows that high-frequency electrical pacing suppresses EC proliferation, while calcium channel blockade rescues this effect, implicating calcium-dependent signaling pathways. This project will investigate how electrical pacing frequency regulates signaling pathways controlling EC proliferation. By elucidating how endothelial cells translate electrical cues into proliferative responses, this work identifies bioelectric signaling as a previously underexplored regulator of vascular regeneration and may inform novel strategies to enhance cardiac repair after injury.
Message To Sponsor
Thank you for supporting my research on cardiac regeneration. I am particularly excited to investigate how electrical signals regulate endothelial cell proliferation, a promising but underexplored pathway for repairing the heart after injury. Your generosity enables me to pursue this work and contribute to developing new strategies for cardiovascular disease treatment. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to advance this research.