Jane Macaulay
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Bo Yang
Co-Presenter:
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Cardiac surgery / Medicine
Presentation Date: April 20
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: Session 1 – 10am – 10:50am
Room: League Ballroom
Authors: Jane Macaulay, Dogukan Mizrak, Bo Yang, Hao Feng
Presenter: 26
Abstract
Thoracic aortic aneurysm is a highly hereditary abnormal dilation of the thoracic aorta and can lead to life-threatening aortic dissection or rupture. Aortic dissection and rupture are among the leading causes of death in the US. The incidence of this disease has tripled in the United States within the past 30 years. Medications can reduce the risk of developing an aortic aneurysm, however, the only treatment is surgical resection. Thoracic aortic aneurysms show regional specificity and can occur in aortic root, ascending aorta, aortic arch, and descending thoracic aorta. Vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) play a critical role in maintaining aortic wall integrity, and SMCs in different aortic regions have heterogeneous embryonic origins. We hypothesize that the regional susceptibility of thoracic aortic aneurysms is caused by lineage-specific SMC defects. Our lab is conducting high-throughput assays to reveal the transcriptional profiles of both healthy and diseased human SMCs from different thoracic aorta regions. My goal is to validate these region-specific SMC markers at the protein level. To accomplish this, I am performing an Immunohistochemical analysis. For this analysis, paraffin blocks are created from age- and gender-matched aortic tissue samples that have been fixed and dehydrated. Then, these blocks are sectioned, placed on a glass slide and the wax is removed. Primary antibodies and secondary antibodies with fluorescent antibody tags are added to label lineage-specific SMC markers.
Biomedical Sciences
