Tingting Li was selected to receive a Travel Award to attend the 47th Annual Conference on Shock held in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The Travel Award program is highly competitive, and recipients are selected based on scientific merit and other factors among predoctoral students from across the nation who submitted abstracts. Ms. Li is a graduate student in Dr. Xiaohui Wang’s lab in the Department of Biomedical Sciences.
She presented two posters for which she was the first author. The first, “Role of Endothelial Cell Senescence in Age-Related Cardiomyopathy,” explored the impact of age-related decline of HSPA12B expression and ATF6 transcriptional activity in cardiac endothelial cells in mice. Endothelial cell-specific HSPA12B and ATF6 knockout mice were generated for this project.
Li states, “Our novel findings reveal that eHSPA12B plays a protective role against age-related endothelial cell senescence through the activation of the ATF6/MANF signaling pathway. Furthermore, we discovered that endothelial cell senescence contributes to cardiac hypertrophy by inducing metabolic reprogramming in cardiomyocytes. This study provides new insights into the role of HSPA12B and ATF6 in regulating endothelial cell senescence, as well as how endothelial cell senescence contributes to age-related cardiac metabolic disorders and hypertrophy, potentially leading to the development of innovative therapies for age-related cardiomyopathy.”
The second poster was titled “Novel Role of LSECS in Hepatic Immune Function During Sepsis.” Sepsis is a leading cause of death in extremely ill patients, and liver dysfunction is associated with heightened morbidity and mortality in sepsis; however, the role of liver sinusoidal endothelial cells in this condition is not well-understood. Li said, “Our findings suggest that LSEC HSPA12B is required for maintaining the unique phenotype and function of liver sinusoidal endothelial cells, which are essential for hepatic Kupffer cell periportal zonation and bacterial clearance during sepsis. This novel discovery highlights the critical role of LSECs in regulating hepatic immune function during sepsis and provides potential therapeutic targets for preventing or treating sepsis-related liver dysfunction.”
Ms. Li would like to thank Dr. Wang, Joseph Adams, and Amy Gravitte in her lab.
Authors for both posters are Tingting Li, Joseph Adams, Dr. Fei Tu, Dr. Tuanzhu Ha, Dr. David L. Williams, Dr. Chuanfu Li, and Dr. Xiaohui Wang.