Recovery of endothelial integrity after vascular injury is vital for endothelial barrier function and vascular homeostasis. Endothelial dysfunction plays a critical role in the initiation and progression of vascular diseases such as atherosclerosis and acute lung injury. A part of the research in the lab is to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of endothelial repair, and endothelial progenitor cells-mediated endothelial regeneration and neovascularization using the unique mouse model with endothelial cell-restricted deletion of FoxM1 (J. Clin. Invest., 2006, 116: 2333).

Pulmonary hypertension is a progressive disease with high mortality. Caveolin-1, the scaffolding protein of caveolae is implicated in pulmonary hypertension and fibrosis (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 2002, 99: 11375). We are currently investigating the underlying molecular mechanism using genetic knockout mouse models and pharmacological approaches. The lab is also working on mechanisms of other lung diseases such as acute lung injury.

Lab Members

• Zhao YY, Sawyer DR, Baliga RR, Opel DJ, Han XQ, Marchionni MA, and Kelly RA. 1998. Neuregulins promote survival and growth of cardiac myocytes: persistence of erbB2 and erbB4 expression in neonatal and adult myocardium. J. Biol. Chem. 273: 10261-10269.


• Zhao YY, Feron O, Dessy C, Han XQ, Marchionni MA, and Kelly RA. 1999. Neuregulin signaling in the heart: dynamic targeting of ErbB4 to caveolar microdomains in cardiac myocytes. Circ. Res. 84: 1380-1387.


• Zhao YY, Xu T, Zucchi P, and Bogorad L. 1999. Subpopulatins of chloroplast ribosomes change during photoregulated development of zea mays leaves: ribosomal proteins L2, L21, L29. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 96: 8997-9002.


• Crone S*, Zhao YY*, Fan L, Gu YS, Minamisawa S, Peterson K, Chen J, Kahn R, Condorelli G, Ross J Jr., Chien KR, and Lee, KF. 2002. ErbB2 myocyte survival pathways are essential in the prevention of dilated cardiomyopathy. Nat. Med. 8: 459-465 (* contributed equally).


• Zhao YY, Liu Y, Stan RV, Fan L, Gu Y, Dalton N, Chu PH, Peterson K, Ross J Jr., and Chien KR. 2002. Defects in caveolin-1 cause dilated cardiomyopathy and pulmonary hypertension in knockout mice. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 99: 11375-11380.


• Zhao YY, Gao XP, Zhao YD, Mirza MK, Frey RS, Kalinichenko VV, Wang IC, Costa RH, and Malik AB 2006. Endothelial cell-restricted disruption of FoxM1 impairs endothelial repair following LPS-induced vascular injury. J. Clin. Invest. 116: 2333-2343.


• Zhao YY, Zhao YD, Mirza, MK, Huang JH, Potula SK, Vogel SM, Brovkovych V, Yuan JXJ, Wharton J, and Malik AB. 2009. Persistent eNOS activation secondary to caveolin-1 deficiency induces pulmonary hypertension in mice and humans through protein kinase G nitration. J. Clin. Invest.119:2009-2018.