The major focus of Dr. Abid’s laboratory is to understand how reactive oxygen species (ROS) or redox-content of the endothelium modulates signal transduction and coronary vascular functions in vivo. It was Dr. Abid’s pioneering work that showed that NADPH oxidase-derived reactive oxygen species (ROS) are essential for endothelial cell (EC) proliferation, migration and survival. Recently, his lab found that endothelium-dependent coronary arteriolar vasodilatation by VEGF requires NADPH oxidase-derived ROS to activate PI3K-Akt-eNOS and nitric oxide (NO) production (ATVB, 2010; PLoS ONE, 2011). The same study further demonstrated that lowering ROS levels resulted in decreased NO levels in intact coronary vessels suggesting that reduction in ROS disrupted activation of upstream c-Src and PI3K-Akt pathway. This study was awarded the best scientific work (Werner Risau New Investigator Award in Vascular Biology in 2011) among 650 original research work by the American Heart Association. The ongoing studies, in collaboration with Dr. Sellke’s lab, using human coronary artery ECs and animal models are aimed at examining whether endothelium-specific conditional increase in ROS will have positive impact on coronary vasodilatation and collateral vessel growth in ischemic myocardium. To that end, Abid lab has generated binary conditional transgenic animal models that can temporally increase regulatable quantities of ROS specifically in the vascular endothelium. The outcome of these studies will have great impact on the development of novel therapeutic modalities for ischemic diseases, and may help explain the reasons for apparent failure of antioxidants in the major clinical trials.
Funded research
Ongoing Research Support:
1R01 HL133624-01A1 Abid (PI) 08/01/2017-06/30/2021
NIH/NHLBI
“Sub-cellular Targeting of Endothelial ROS in Myocardial Ischemia”
The major goals of this R01 grant are to determine whether intervening on mitochondrial oxidant levels using genetic model and antioxidant nanoparticles can induce coronary angiogenesis in ischemic myocardium.
Role: PI
1P20GM103652 01A1 (Project# 3) Abid (PI, Project 3)
09/20/2013-05/31/2018
NIH/NIGMS
“Improvement of Coronary Vascular Function by Endothelium-targeted Increase in ROS”
The goal of this study is to stimulate new blood vessel formation in diseased heart by short term, localized increase of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the innermost layer of coronary blood vessels using a binary transgenic animal model.
Role: PI
14GRNT20460291 Abid (PI)
07/01/14-06/30/18
AHA Grant-in-Aid
“Mechanisms for Differential Effects of Short-term and Long-term Increase in ROS on Endothelium”
The goal of this study is to elucidate the mechanisms by which the duration of exposure to ROS modulate downstream signaling pathways and mitochondrial function in endothelium.
Role: PI
5R25HL088992 Harrington (PI)
04/01/2007-03/31/2017
NIH/NHLBI
“Short-term Training Program to Increase Diversity in Health-related Research”
The goal of this program is to provide under-represented undergraduate students (selected nationally) with research training experiences with outstanding faculty mentors at Brown University.
Role: Faculty mentor