View this Newsletter Online
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Giving Tuesday is December 2 and your tax deductible contribution to NAVBO would be very much appreciated.
Your contribution will be used to support NAVBO's educational activities, most specifically our high school video series. Depending on the amount we receive, we can also fund Vasculata scholarships, and support student memberships through our Advancing Young Voices Program, which supports membership for those with financial challenges.
To donate, please click here. To choose a level for your contribution, select the appropriate gift.
NAVBO is a 501(c)3 charitable organization as designated by the IRS.
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Vascular Biology 2025 - A Pictorial Review
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NAVBO Meritorious Award Recipients
Pictured above: Klaus Ley (Stephen Schwartz Award Recipient), Anne Eichmann (Earl Benditt Award), Yajaira Suárez (Judah Folkman Award), Mahdi Garelnabi (Florence Sabin Award), and Callie Kwartler (Springer Junior Investigator Award) with NAVBO President, Wayne Orr, center.
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Poster Sessions are very popular and always well attended!!
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NAVBO held dynamic discussions on career development during our breakfast and lunch breaks including Networking 101, Publish or Perish? Disseminating Science in an Uncertain Age, Mock Job Interviews, Science in Action: Advocating for Research and Discovery, and Lunch and Learn. Thanks to organizers: Mabruka Alfaidi, Juliana Parente, Callie Kwartler, Ziqing Liu, Donny Hanjaya-Putra, and Jennifer Fang,
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Congratulations to our Travel Award Recipients!!
Postdocs: Fênix Araujo, University of Virginia; Cyrine Ben Dhaou, LSUHSC, Shreveport; Hanqiang Deng, Yale University; Xiaochen Fan, Stanford University; Wenduo Gu, Stanford University; Gwang-Bum Im, Boston Children's Hospital; Prabhash Jha, Brigham and Women's Hospital; Wenqing Li, UCSD; Arun Narota, Boston University; Brooke O'Donnell, University of Virginia; James Shadiow, University of Michigan; Wencao Zhao, University of Pennsylvania. And Students: Adella Bartoletti, Tulane University; Kathryn Citrin, Yale University; Mark Danesh, York University; Jasper Farrington, University of Denver; Philipp Hauger, Amsterdam University Medical Center; Christie Kang, University of Illinois at Chicago; Olubodun Lateef, University of Missouri; Abbigail Price, University of South Florida; Deepa Suryanarayan, University of Pittsburgh; Christina Vyzas, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School; Louise Welch, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center.
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Outstanding Poster Award Recipients
Congratulations to Megan Runion Ballard,* Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation; Richa Banerjee, University of South Florida; Razieh Dehghan, USF Morsani College of Medicine; Yunping Guo, Rutgers University; Isabella Jennings,* University of Washington; Madison Lemire, University of Vermont; Simeng Lu,* Massachusetts General Hospital; George Nader, York University; Jill Rose, University of Nebraska Medical Center; Qianxun Wang, University of Illinois, Chicago; Matthew D. Worssam, Stanford University; and Hawoon Yoon, University of North Carolina.
*not pictured
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This year's Pre-conference Meeting for Trainees was organized by Alicen Whitaker-Hilbig, Liping Zhang, Yu Jung Shin, and Xiaochen Fan (top left corner). The featured speakers were Anne Eichmann and Stefania Nicoli. Picture in the center are the organizers with the "Flash Talk" presenters. The meeting was very interactive and engaged the attendees in some fun exercises including a coffee tasting called, Espresso Yourself and a game of Bingo.
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Pictured here in the upper left corner is Donald Ingber, who provided the Keynote Lecture entitled, "New roles for endothelial cells and mechanical forces revealed using human organ chips."
Also, picture here is the NAVBO Council (from left) Marie Billaud, Sophie Astrof, Jason Fish, Cynthia St. Hilaire, Wayne Off, Callie Kwartler, Bernadette Englert, Yun Fang and Scott Johnstone.
More photos are available at https://navbo.org/vb2025
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Special thanks to the meeting organizers, Alejandro Adam, Albany Medical College; Jerry Breslin, University of South Florida; Jennifer Fang, Tulane University; Delphine Gomez, University of Pittsburgh; Stryder Meadows, Tulane University; Juan Melero-Martin, Boston Children's Hospital; Sara Nunes Vasconcelos, Health University Network; Beth Roman, University of Pittsburgh; Joseph Rutkowski, Texas A&M University; Amber Stratman, Washington University in St. Louis; and Aaron J. Trask, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Session Chairs, Session Facilitators, Poster Judges, Moderators and Panelists of our meal-time sessions, And of course, thank you to the speakers for their time and expertise.
We greatly appreciate the support we received from the following organizations.
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Thank you to Supporters of VB2025
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The Angiogenesis journal supports the Springer Junior Investigator Award
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Must be a NAVBO member to participate
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New Workshop - February 2026
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This month we’re highlighting the lab of Dr. Juan Melero-Martin, an Associate Professor of Surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital. The Melero-Martin lab is focused on creating cell-based therapies for vascular repair and regeneration using bioengineered vascular networks and vascular organoids.
Find out more about his lab by visiting his page in our Lab of the Month listing.
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Welcome to our New Members:
Sila Appak Baskoy, Toronto Metropolitan University
Amanda Ceas, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Michel Desjarlais, Centre de recherche de l'Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont
Shijie Jin, Stanford University
Jack Maher, University of Minnesota
Mehrnaz Mehrabipour, Boston Children's Hospital-Harvard Medical School
Chhiring Sherpa, Cincinnati Children's Hospital and Medical Center
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Recent Member Publications
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PRDM16 regulates smooth muscle cell identity and atherosclerotic plaque composition
Nature Cardiovascular Research
Vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) undergo phenotype switching to acquire various fates in response to pathological stimuli. Among these, ‘synthetic’ SMCs—defined by migration, proliferation and extracellular matrix production—accumulate in atherosclerotic lesions and contribute to fibrous cap formation. Read More
The extraordinary influence of the lymphatic system on our health
NewScientist
It has remained mysterious for millennia, but we’re finally uncovering the profound role the lymphatic system plays in everything from preventing dementia to fighting cancer. Read More
Lipid raft proteomics identify endothelial myosin-9 (MYH9) as a regulator of low-density lipoprotein transcytosis and atherosclerosis
PNAS
Background: In early atherosclerosis, circulating Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL) crosses the endothelium by transcytosis. This involves caveolar uptake of LDL by scavenger receptor BI (SR-BI) and activin-like kinase 1 (ALK1) and requires the protein caveolin-1 (Cav-1). Read More
If you recently published a paper and would like to have it included in a future issue of the NAVBO NewsBEAT and/or on our web site. Please send the citation to membership@navbo.org
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Call for Papers and Awards
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Frontiers In Cardiovascular Medicine Research Topic:
Advances in Vascular Malformations: From Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms to Clinical Therapies and Management
Topic Editors: Jennifer Fang, Elisa Boscolo, Miguel Lopez-Ramirez, Alexandre Dubrac
NAVBO is sponsoring this Research Topic through our partnership with Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine.
Vascular malformations refer to a wide range of structural abnormalities that can affect all vessel types in the blood and vascular lymphatic trees – including arteries, capillaries, and veins. Vascular malformation diseases can be inherited or can occur spontaneously; however, in all cases, resulting vascular lesions can significantly compromise cardiovascular and organ function and reduce patient quality-of-life.
In this Research Topic, we aim to gather contributions from scientists and clinicians to share recent advances in our understanding of the biology and treatment of vascular malformations. Ultimately, our goal is to accelerate the development of new therapeutic treatments for patients with vascular malformations affecting blood or lymphatic vessels.
Specific areas of interest are listed on the webpage:
The deadline for manuscript submission is December 29, 2025.
Header image credit: Dr. Elisa Boscolo
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Frontiers In Cardiovascular Medicine Research Topic:
Cardiovascular Mechanobiology: Molecular Mechanisms, Disease Pathogenesis, and Therapeutic Opportunities
Topic Editors: Yun Fang, Ellie Tzima, Hanjoong Jo, Roxana Ola
NAVBO is sponsoring this Research Topic through our partnership with Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine.
Mechanotransduction—the process by which cells detect and convert mechanical stimuli into biochemical signals—is essential for embryonic development, organogenesis, and the maintenance of tissue homeostasis. It also plays a pivotal role in disease progression. This is especially true in the cardiovascular system, where cells are constantly exposed to complex mechanical forces, including shear stress, cyclic stretch, and pressure. In addition to these biomechanical stimuli, cardiovascular cells respond to cues from the extracellular matrix (ECM) in a dynamic, three-dimensional microenvironment. Notably, these cells not only sense and respond to mechanical forces of varying magnitude, direction, and frequency but also actively participate in remodeling their biomechanical surroundings.
Disruption of mechanosensitive signaling pathways and alterations in tissue biomechanics are increasingly recognized as key contributors to the development and progression of a wide range of cardiovascular diseases, including—but not limited to—atherosclerosis, vascular stenosis, cardiac hypertrophy, heart failure, fibrosis, thrombosis, valvular disorders, arteriovenous malformations, aneurysms and dissections, microvascular dysfunction, and hypertension. A deeper understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying mechanotransmission and mechanotransduction is essential for advancing cardiovascular biology and for the development of novel diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic strategies.
This Research Topic aims to bring together cutting-edge original research and comprehensive reviews that highlight the central role of mechanobiology in cardiovascular health and disease. By bridging fundamental mechanobiology with translational science, we seek to foster innovation in both the foundational understanding of mechanotransduction and the development of next-generation diagnostics and therapeutics.
Specific areas of interest are listed on the webpage
The deadline for manuscript submission is January 5, 2026.
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BMC Biology is calling for submissions to theirr Collection on vasculogenesis and angiogenesis in vivo and in vitro. This Collection aims to bring together cutting-edge research that explores the cell and molecular mechanisms and therapeutic applications of blood vessel formation in health and disease. Tara Haas, York University, is one of the guest editors. Deadline for submission is February 22, 2026. Download the flyer for more information.
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This Research Topic will constitute the second volume of the Insights in Vascular Physiology series. The 2025 volume invites submissions of original papers, reviews, or perspectives on such topics as abdominal aortic aneurysm, impact of microbiome on vascular physiology, cerebral microcirculation, and coronary microcirculation (see the link below for full topics list). This issue is edited by Drs. Luis A. Martinez-Lemus, University of Missouri, Columbia, USA; Christopher Garland, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Francesco Moccia, University of Molise, Campobasso, Italy; and Andrew P Braun, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada.
Frontiers | Insights in Vascular Physiology: 2025,
Submission Deadline: November 2025
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This collection focuses on the biochemical determinants and risk factors that contribute to the sex differences in cardiovascular disease initiation, development, presentation, and diagnosis. Specific areas of interest include coronary disease, microvascular dysfunction, hormonal and non-hormonal mechanisms of sex-related cardio protection, vascular biomechanics, and impacts of gender (as distinct from biological sex) and related lifestyle on cardiovascular health. The topic editors are Drs. Irena Levitan, University of Illinois Chicago, Catherine Martel, Universite de Montreal, and Benard Ogola, Augusta University. Frontiers | Exploring Sex-Specific Cardiovascular Health: Risk Factors and Molecular Insights.
Submission Deadline January 2026
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North American Vascular Biology Organization
18501 Kingshill Road
Germantown, MD 20874-2211
(301) 760-7745
info@navbo.org
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