Core A — Administrative Core
Overall Goal of Core A:
Core A will coordinate and oversee the research efforts of the individual projects to maximize project synergy and ensure administrative and regulatory compliance.
Administrative Core (Core A), led by Dr. Tohru Fukai and co-led by Dr. Masuko Ushio-Fukai, provides leadership, coordination, and oversight for the Program Project. It integrates three research projects and two scientific cores, supports collaboration, tracks progress, and manages finances, compliance, advisory activities, meetings, and communications.
Administrative Core Structure
Central Hypothesis
The Core will organize monthly meetings and teleconferences, organize multi-project manuscripts, organize a scientific advisory board (SAB), and will plan annual in-person meetings of all PPG personnel with the SAB. The biostatistics and bioinformatics component of Core A will provide ongoing statistical consultation to research projects, focusing on issues such as experimental design, statistical analysis, sample size, and power considerations. Dr. Jie Chen will provide expertise in statistics, bioinformatics, and statistical modeling of genomic data. Dr. Dong will assist with cell identify evaluations and computational analyses of transcriptomic data (bulk and single cell (sc)RNAseq, bulk and scATACseq data) generated in each project. Dr. Fulton will assist with the administrative aspects of Core A.
Core Leads
Drs. Tohru Fukai & Masuko Ushio-Fukai
Core A Leads
Dr. Tohru Fukai is the Barbara Schnuck Professor of Vascular Biology Center (VBC) at MCG/AU. Dr. Fukai is a leading expert on the role of oxidative stress, antioxidant enzymes (extracellular ecSOD) and the regulation of copper (Cu) metabolism in vascular disease over the past twenty years. His laboratory provided the first evidence that vascular Cu transport proteins such as the “Cu transporting ATPase” (ATP7A) function to protect endothelial function and ameliorate hypertension by regulating activity of ecSOD which preserves NO bioavailability against oxidative stress. He also found that the Cu exporter, ATP7A, is downregulated in diabetic blood vessels, which contributes to endothelial dysfunction. In preliminary studies, he has found that ATP7A downregulation in ECs in diabetes promotes glycolysis by upregulating PFKFB3 as well as mitochondrial ROS, which contributes to EndoMT and atherosclerosis. These studies have been conducted in collaboration with Drs. Ushio-Fukai (Co-I) (expert on mitochondrial ROS and redox signaling) and Yuqing Huo (Co-I) (expert on EC metabolism and atherosclerosis). For this PPG, he will study role of ATP7A in EC metabolism and diabetes accelerated atherosclerosis. Dr. Fukai will serve as the PPG Director (Contact), together with Dr. Ushio-Fukai, Project 1 Leader, and Director of Core A, the Administrative Core.
Dr. Masuko Ushio-Fukai is a Professor and Director of the redox signaling program in the VBC at MCG/AU. Dr. Ushio-Fukai is a leading expert on ROS and redox signaling via crosstalk between NADPH oxidase (NOX) and mitochondria and the implications for EC biology in diseases such as angiogenesis and vascular remodeling over the past twenty years. Her laboratory is one of the first to demonstrate that H2O2 derived from NOX plays an essential role in reparative neovascularization using an animal model of peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Recently, her laboratory has focused on the role of mitochondrial metabolism and ROS signaling in angiogenesis and PAD. In addition, through collaboration with Dr. Tohru Fukai, she has also investigated the role of Cu transport proteins in angiogenesis and has discovered novel links between Cu transport proteins and ROS signaling that regulate inflammation and angiogenesis. Dr. Ushio-Fukai has the scientific expertise to study redox imbalance using state of the art techniques to measure ROS in vitro and in vivo. For the PPG, she will interrogate the role of the endothelial mitochondrial dynamic’s protein, Drp1, as a signaling node connecting NOX/mitoROS signaling, glycolysis, and ischemic vascular disease. Dr. Ushio-Fukai will serve as the PPG Director, together with Dr. Tohru Fukai, Project 3 leader, and co-director of Core A and Core C.
Core A Team
Dr. Tohru Fukai
- Core A Lead
Dr. Masuko Ushio-Fukai
- Co-Investigator
Dr. Jie Chen
- Co-Investigator
Dr. Kunzhe Dong
- Co-Investigator
Dr. David Fulton
- Contributor
Audrey Forbes
- Administrative Specialist