Sunday
2:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Arrival and Check-in
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Dinner
7:30 pm - 7:40 pm
Introductory Comments by GRC Staff / Welcome and Introduction from the Chairs
7:40 pm - 9:30 pm
Elastin Properties and Assembly
Discussion Leaders: Katherine Zhang (Boston University, United States) and Robert Mecham (Washington University School of Medicine, United States)
7:40 pm - 8:00 pm
Brigida Bochicchio (University of Basilicata, Italy)
"Extracellular Matrix-Mimetic Fibers: Electrospun Bioconjugates Inspired by Elastin and Hyaluronic Acid"
8:00 pm - 8:10 pm
Discussion
8:10 pm - 8:30 pm
Christian Schmelzer (Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS, Germany)
"Cross Linking of Elastin During Elastogenesis"
8:30 pm - 8:40 pm
Discussion
8:40 pm - 9:00 pm
Anna Tarakanova (University of Connecticut, United States)
"Critical Steps in Elastic Fiber Assembly"
9:00 pm - 9:10 pm
Discussion
9:10 pm - 9:25 pm
Valentin Nelea (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University, Canada)
"Role of N-Linked Glycans in Short Fibulins and LTBP-4 Mediated Matrix Assembly and Function"
9:25 pm - 9:30 pm
Discussion
Monday
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Breakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Elastin Degradation by Disease Processes
Discussion Leaders: James Pirruccello (UCSF, United States) and Ying Shen (Baylor College of Medicine, United States)
9:00 am - 9:20 am
Scott LeMaire (Baylor College of Medicine, United States)
"Dynamic Changes Involving Elastic Fiber Genes in Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm and Dissection"
9:20 am - 9:30 am
Discussion
9:30 am - 9:50 am
George Tellides (Yale University, United States)
"Elastin Breaks, Tears and Splits"
9:50 am - 10:00 am
Discussion
10:00 am - 10:20 am
Hiromi Yanagisawa (University of Tsukuba, Japan)
"Role of Macrophages in Maintaining and Disrupting the Aortic Wall"
10:20 am - 10:30 am
Discussion
10:30 am - 11:00 am
Coffee Break
11:00 am - 11:20 am
Bhama Ramkhelawon (New York University Langone Medical Center, United States)
"Biomechanics and Transcriptomics of Vascular Aging"
11:20 am - 11:30 am
Discussion
11:30 am - 11:50 am
Suneel Apte (Cleveland Clinic, United States)
"Role of Proteases in The Aorta"
11:50 am - 12:00 pm
Discussion
12:00 pm - 12:10 pm
Yanming Li (Baylor College of Medicine, United States)
"Dynamic Phenotypic Transition of Smooth Muscle Cells during Human Ascending Thoracic Aortic Disease Progression: From Compensation in Aortic Aneurysm to Decompensation in Aortic Dissection"
12:10 pm - 12:15 pm
Discussion
12:15 pm - 12:25 pm
Michiel Vanhooydonck (Ghent University, Belgium)
"The Establishment of the First Reported Zebrafish Model for Thoracic Aortic Dissection and Rupture"
12:25 pm - 12:30 pm
Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Free Time
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
The GRC Power Hour™
The GRC Power Hour™ is designed to address diversity and inclusion in the scientific workplace by providing a safe environment for informal and meaningful conversations amongst colleagues of all career stages. The program supports the professional growth of all members of our communities, including ethnicity, race and/or gender identity by providing an open forum for discussion and mentoring.
Organizers: Hiromi Yanagisawa (University of Tsukuba, Japan), Jessica Wagenseil (Washington University, United States) and Ying Shen (Baylor College of Medicine, United States)
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Structural Roles of Elastin and Microfibril Associated Proteins
Discussion Leaders: Dieter Reinhardt (McGill University, Canada) and Hiromi Yanagisawa (University of Tsukuba, Japan)
7:30 pm - 7:50 pm
Robert Mecham (Washington University School of Medicine, United States)
"Elastic Fiber Ultrastructure and Assembly"
7:50 pm - 8:00 pm
Discussion
8:00 pm - 8:20 pm
Gerhard Sengle (University of Cologne, Germany)
"Fibrillin-1 Deficiency Impacts the Structural Integrity of Collagen - New Molecular Insight on How to Prevent Aneurysm Formation in Marfan Mice"
8:20 pm - 8:30 pm
Discussion
8:30 pm - 8:50 pm
Clair Baldock (University of Manchester, United Kingdom)
"ADAMTS6 Mediated TGFß Activation via LTBPs"
8:50 pm - 9:00 pm
Discussion
9:00 pm - 9:10 pm
Carmen Halabi (Washington University School of Medicine, United States)
"Regional Contributions of The Elastogenic Proteins, Fibulin-4 and Fibulin-5, to Arterial Integrity"
9:10 pm - 9:15 pm
Discussion
9:15 pm - 9:25 pm
Rong-Mo Zhang (Yale, United States)
"Mechanosensing Through Talin 1 Contributes to Tissue Mechanical Homeostasis"
9:25 pm - 9:30 pm
Discussion
Tuesday
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Breakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Signaling in Elastin Rich Tissues
Discussion Leaders: George Tellides (Yale University, United States) and Mary Sheppard (University of Kentucky, United States)
9:00 am - 9:20 am
David Dichek (University of Washington, United States)
"Unanticipated Challenges in Causally Connecting SMC TGF-Beta Signaling With Aortopathy in Mice"
9:20 am - 9:30 am
Discussion
9:30 am - 9:50 am
Elena Gallo MacFarlane (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, United States)
"Temporal and Regional Determinants of Hereditary Aneurysm Pathogenesis"
9:50 am - 10:00 am
Discussion
10:00 am - 10:30 am
Coffee Break
10:30 am - 10:50 am
Zhen Zhou (University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, United States)
"Mechano-Sensing Pathways in the Progression to Aortic Dissection"
10:50 am - 11:00 am
Discussion
11:00 am - 11:20 am
Silvia Smaldone (Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., United States)
"Targeting Aortic Aneurysms in a Marfan Mouse Model"
11:20 am - 11:30 am
Discussion
11:30 am - 11:50 am
Jorge Oller Pedrosa (Instituto de Investigaciones Sanitarias Hospital Fundación Jiménez Díaz (IIS-HFJD), Spain)
"Extracellular Tuning of Vascular Metabolism Leads to Aortic Aneurysm"
11:50 am - 12:00 pm
Discussion
12:00 pm - 12:10 pm
Enid Neptune (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, United States)
"Acta2 Contributes to The Altered Elastogenic Machinery of Emphysema"
12:10 pm - 12:15 pm
Discussion
12:15 pm - 12:25 pm
Bert Callewaert (Ghent University Hospital, Belgium)
"Cutis Laxa Syndromes: Pathways Underlying A Clinical Classification"
12:25 pm - 12:30 pm
Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Free Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Elastin and Microfibril Modifiers, Assembly, and Development
Discussion Leaders: Katja Schenke-Layland (NMI Natural and Medical Sciences Institute at the University Tübingen, Germany) and Anthony (Tony) Weiss (The University of Sydney, Australia)
7:30 pm - 7:50 pm
Dirk Hubmacher (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, United States)
"Role of ADAMTS and ADAMTS-like Proteins in Musculoskeletal Development"
7:50 pm - 8:00 pm
Discussion
8:00 pm - 8:20 pm
Dieter Reinhardt (McGill University, Canada)
"Fibrillin-1 Regulation of Cell Signaling and MicroRNAs"
8:20 pm - 8:30 pm
Discussion
8:30 pm - 8:50 pm
Daniel Greif (Yale University School of Medicine, United States)
"Role of Sphingosine Kinase 1 in Defective Elastin-Induced Hypermuscularization"
8:50 pm - 9:00 pm
Discussion
9:00 pm - 9:10 pm
George Biggin (The University of Manchester, United Kingdom)
"Role of Fibrillin in TGFß Latency and Integrin-Mediated Activation"
9:10 pm - 9:15 pm
Discussion
9:15 pm - 9:25 pm
Mark Lindsay (Massachusetts General Hospital, United States)
"Correction of Multisystem Smooth Muscle Dysfunction Syndrome in a Mouse Model via Base Editing"
9:25 pm - 9:30 pm
Discussion
Wednesday
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Breakfast
8:30 am - 9:00 am
Group Photo
9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Elastin and Microfibril Matrix: Multi-Omics Approaches
Discussion Leaders: David Dichek (University of Washington, United States) and Enid Neptune (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, United States)
9:00 am - 9:20 am
James Pirruccello (UCSF, United States)
"Applying to Computational Methods to Large Datasets to Identify and Characterize Thoracic Aortic Disease"
9:20 am - 9:30 am
Discussion
9:30 am - 9:50 am
Sara Procknow (Washington University in St. Louis, United States)
"Multiomics Analyses of Elastin Deficient Aortas"
9:50 am - 10:00 am
Discussion
10:10 am - 10:30 am
Scott Damrauer (University of Pennsylvania, United States)
"Genome Wide Association Studies for Thoracic Aortic Disease"
10:30 am - 10:40 am
Discussion
10:40 am - 11:10 am
Coffee Break
11:10 am - 11:20 am
Morgan Salmon (University of Michigan, United States)
"Proteomic Changes in The Aorta With Age"
11:20 am - 11:25 am
Discussion
11:25 am - 11:45 am
Bart Spronck (Maastricht University, The Netherlands)
"Biomechanical Models of Vascular Integrity"
11:45 am - 11:55 am
Discussion
11:55 am - 12:05 pm
A.J. Pedroza (Stanford University, United States)
"Leveraging Dynamic Smooth Muscle Cell Phenotype to Identify Critical Regulators of Hereditary Aortopathies"
12:05 pm - 12:10 pm
Discussion
12:10 pm - 12:20 pm
Emily Bramel (Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, United States)
"Coordinated Gene Activity in Pattern Sets (CoGAPs) Identifies The Regional Identity of Aortic Smooth Muscle Cells Across Multiple Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Datasets"
12:20 pm - 12:25 pm
Discussion
12:25 pm - 12:35 pm
Samantha Xu (Baylor College of Medicine, United States)
"Energy Metabolism Dynamics in Macrophages of Sporadic Aortic Aneurysms and Acute Dissections"
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Lunch
12:35 pm - 12:40 pm
Discussion
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Free Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Aortic Structure and Biomechanics in Health and Disease
Discussion Leaders: Julie Phillippi (University of Pittsburgh, United States) and Bart Spronck (Maastricht University, The Netherlands)
7:30 pm - 7:50 pm
Jay Humphrey (Yale University, United States)
"Biomechanical Roles of Compromised Elastic Fiber Integrity in Aortopathy"
7:50 pm - 8:00 pm
Discussion
8:00 pm - 8:20 pm
David Vorp (University of Pittsburgh, United States)
"From Cell-Based to Cell-Free Regenerative Treatments for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm"
8:20 pm - 8:30 pm
Discussion
8:30 pm - 8:50 pm
Shaine Morris (Baylor College of Medicine, United States)
"Arterial and Aortic Tortuosity as a Biomarker of Aortic Outcomes"
8:50 pm - 9:00 pm
Discussion
9:00 pm - 9:10 pm
Timothy Mead (Case Western Reserve University, United States)
"Inactivation of ADAMTS6 Improves Aortic Wall Structure in Mouse Models of Marfan Syndrome"
9:10 pm - 9:15 pm
Discussion
9:15 pm - 9:25 pm
Chen Zhang (Baylor College of Medicine, United States)
"Critical Role of Endothelial Injury in the Initiation of Aortic Dissection"
9:25 pm - 9:30 pm
Discussion
Thursday
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Breakfast
8:30 am - 9:00 am
Business Meeting
Nominations for the Next Vice Chair(s); Complete the GRC Evaluation Forms; Discuss Future Dates and Venue; Election of the Next Vice Chair(s)
9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Elastic Fibers in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
Discussion Leaders: Alan Daugherty (University of Kentucky, United States) and Clair Baldock (University of Manchester, United Kingdom)
9:00 am - 9:20 am
Katja Schenke-Layland (NMI Natural and Medical Sciences Institute at the University Tübingen, Germany)
"Role of Extracellular Matrix in Biomechanics and its Impact on Bioengineering of Cells and 3D Tissues"
9:20 am - 9:30 am
Discussion
9:30 am - 9:50 am
Anthony (Tony) Weiss (The University of Sydney, Australia)
"Fabricating Organized Elastin in Vascular Grafts"
9:50 am - 10:00 am
Discussion
10:00 am - 10:20 am
Sanjay Sinha (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom)
"Modelling Aortopathies Using Human iPS Cells"
10:20 am - 10:30 am
Discussion
10:30 am - 11:00 am
Coffee Break
11:00 am - 11:20 am
Naren Vyavahare (Clemson University, United States)
"In situ Elastic Fiber Regeneration to Reverse Cardiopulmonary Disease Conditions by Targeted Nanoparticle Based Therapy"
11:20 am - 11:30 am
Discussion
11:30 am - 11:50 am
Katherine Zhang (Boston University, United States)
"Arterial ECM Mechanics in Aging and Disease"
11:50 am - 12:00 pm
Discussion
12:00 pm - 12:10 pm
Giselle Yeo (The University of Sydney, Australia)
"Tropoelastin Modulates Mesenchymal Stem Cell Plasticity and Multi-Lineage Differentiation"
12:10 pm - 12:15 pm
Discussion
12:15 pm - 12:25 pm
Ketan Ghaghada (Texas Children's Hospital / Baylor College of Medicine, United States)
"In Vivo Interrogation of Aortic Degeneration using Nanoparticle Contrast-Enhanced CT"
12:25 pm - 12:30 pm
Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Free Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Elastin Structural Integrity with Aging and Environmental Damage
Discussion Leaders: Carmen Halabi (Washington University School of Medicine, United States) and Anna Tarakanova (University of Connecticut, United States)
7:30 pm - 7:50 pm
Jessica Wagenseil (Washington University, United States)
"Elastin Haploinsufficiency Has Divergent Effects Based on Sex"
7:50 pm - 8:00 pm
Discussion
8:00 pm - 8:20 pm
Andrea Heinz (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)
"Elastin and Elastokines in Health and Aging"
8:20 pm - 8:30 pm
Discussion
8:30 pm - 8:50 pm
Monzur Murshed (McGill University, Canada)
"Elastin Calcification Prevention by Matrix Gla Protein"
8:50 pm - 9:00 pm
Discussion
9:00 pm - 9:10 pm
Teresa Luperchio (NHLBI, United States)
"Extending The Phenotypic Spectrum of Elastin Fiber Disease Through A Gene-First Approach"
9:10 pm - 9:15 pm
Discussion
9:15 pm - 9:25 pm
Carolyn Nietupski (University of Cincinnati, United States)
"The Regulation of Elastogenesis in the Uterus During Pregnancy"
9:25 pm - 9:30 pm
Discussion
Friday
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Breakfast
9:00 am
Departure