Taliha Nadeem, PhD
VBST Postdoctoral Fellow
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Contact
Building & Room:
COMRB 2168
Office Phone:
Email:
Mentor Heading link
Jan Kitajewski, PhD
VBST Trainee Heading link
2023-2024
Project Heading link
Mentors: Jan Kitajewski, PhD and Andrius Kazlauskas, PhD
Pathological neovascularization is a critical step in the progression of ocular pathologies such as retinopathy of prematurity and diabetic retinopathy. Neovascular retinopathies are driven by increased levels of inflammatory cytokines. We have previously demonstrated that Notch1 and Notch4 signaling regulate the production of CC-chemokines in cultured human umbilical vascular endothelial cells. This suggests that blocking Notch1 and Notch4 signaling may reduce endothelial inflammation and subsequently limit pathological neovascularization. My goal is to characterize Notch1 and Notch4 function in retinopathy of prematurity/oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) models using genetically modified mice to understand the contributions of endothelial Notch signaling to the progression of ocular pathologies. Through this work, I hope to also provide insight into endothelial-Notch signaling induced microglial chemoattraction and how it may affect neovascularization.