MCS Featured Lab - February 2021


Andreas M. Beyer, Ph.D, FAHA, FCVS-APS

Associate Professor of Medicine and Physiology, Co-director of Cardio-Oncology
Basic and Translational Research Program
Cardiovascular Research Center
Medical College of Wisconsin
Dr Andreas Beyer

Research Description:

The focus of the lab is to define the underlying mechanisms that contribute to development of microvascular defects observed in presence of chromic cardiovascular conditions and during cancer therapy. My lab was the first to publish a critical contribution of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) to the pathological phenotype observed in human’s CAD. We have identified a non-canonical role of TERT, as a key regulator of oxidative stress and mitochondrial function in endothelial cells. Due to its well-established role as a target of several clinical used chemotherapies we are exploring whether activation of mitochondrial telomerase (cardioprotective) but not nuclear telomerase (pro-oncogenic) can be used as a therapeutic target for chemotherapy induced heart failure via improvement of microvascular function. Anti-cancer therapy induced systemic and local inflammatory responses have long been linked to adverse side effects however not been explored in the vascular endothelium.

Lab Website:

https://www.mcw.edu/departments/cardiovascular-center-heart/members/faculty-and-labs/andreas-beyer-lab

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/BeyerLab

Top lesson you have learned in your career:

Persistence pays off; 90% of academic science is rejection and frustration, if you can not thrive on the remaining 10% academic science is not for you.

Recent Publications:

  • Hughes WE, Chabowsk DS, Ait-Aissa K, Fetterman J, Hockenberry J, Beyer AM, and Gutterman DD, Critical interaction between telomerase and autophagy in mediating flow-induced human arteriolar vasodilation. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol . 2021 Jan;41(1):446-457. doi: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.120.314944. Epub 2020 Nov 24. (PMID: 33232201)
  • Durand MJ, Hader SN, Derayunan A, Zinkevich N, McIntosh JJ, Beyer AM. BCR-ABL Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors Promote Pathological Changes in Dilator Phenotype in the Human Microvasculature. Microcirculation. 2020 Oct;27(7):e12625. doi: 10.1111/micc.12625. Epub 2020 Sep 5.(PMID: 32395853)
  • Hader SN, Zinkevich NS, Norwood Toro LE, Kriegel AJ, Kong A, Freed JK, Gutterman DD and Beyer AM. Detrimental Effects of Chemotherapy on Human Coronary Microvascular Function. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol . 2019 Oct 1;317(4):H705-H710. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.00370.2019. Epub 2019 Aug 9. (PMID: 31397169)