Black, Gowdy Awarded Presidential Honor

Two Ohio State medical scientists receive presidential honor

Black, Gowdy among nearly 400 nationwide recognized for innovative research early in their careers

January 21, 2025

Image of Sylvester Black and Kymberly GowdyBefore leaving office, President Joe Biden awarded a surgeon-scientist and a researcher at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). It is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government to outstanding scientists and engineers early in their careers.
 
Sylvester Black, MD, PhD, professor with tenure in the Department of Surgery, and Kymberly Gowdy, PhD, associate professor with tenure in the Department of Internal Medicine, are among nearly 400 scientists and engineers nationwide who recently received the award. This year's awardees are employed or funded by 14 U.S. agencies. The National Institutes of Health nominated Black and Gowdy.
 
The award recognizes innovative and far-reaching developments in science and technology, expands awareness of careers in science and engineering, recognizes the scientific missions of participating agencies and enhances connections between research and its impact on society.
 
"Dr. Black’s and Dr. Gowdy's ability to apply their innovative research bridges the gaps between the lab bench and the patient’s bedside. This prestigious honor recognizes that when we support the work of early career physician-scientists and researchers, scientific advances and breakthroughs can happen and lives will be improved," said Carol R. Bradford, MD, dean of the College of Medicine.

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Featured Publications

Ana Mora

Regulation of lung progenitor plasticity and repair by fatty acid oxidation

Ana Mora, MD & Mauricio Rojas, MD

"We found that deficiency of CPT1a causes a decrease in SMAD7 protein levels and TGF-β signaling pathway activation. These findings suggest that the mitochondrial FAO metabolic pathway contributes to the regulation of lung progenitor cell repair responses and deficiency of FAO contributes to aberrant lung repair and the development of lung fibrosis."

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Megan Ballinger

Mechanomemory of pulmonary fibroblasts demonstrates reversibility of transcriptomics and contraction phenotypes

Megan Ballinger, PhD & Samir Ghadiali, PhD

"Overall, these findings indicate that lung fibroblasts have a mechanical memory that is altered by culture condition and can be reversible through precondition of cells within a softer 3D microenvironment."

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Bryan Whiston, MD, PhD

Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion in Donation After Cardiac and Brain Death Donation

Bryan Whitson, MD, PhD

"Allografts from donation after circulatory death (DCD) or brain death donors may be evaluated by ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) to assess quality for transplantation. We sought to determine the association of donor type with transplantation outcomes at a national level."

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Michael Tranter

HuR inhibition reduces post-ischemic cardiac remodeling by dampening myocyte-dependent inflammatory gene expression and the innate immune response

Michael Tranter, PhD & Onur Kanisicak, PhD

"These studies demonstrate that HuR is necessary for early pro-inflammatory gene expression in cardiomyocytes following I/R injury that subsequently mediates monocyte recruitment and macrophage activation in the post-ischemic myocardium."

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Vadim Fedorov, PhD

Heart Rate Mystery Unveiled: Sex Differences in Human Sinoatrial Node Genes and Female Tachycardia

Vadim Fedorov, PhD, Peter Mohler, PhD & Bryan Whitson, MD, PhD

"Despite over a century of clinical electrocardiographic studies showing that women exhibit a faster resting heart rate (HR), the mechanisms underlying sex differences in HR remain unresolved. Moreover, inappropriate sinus tachycardia primarily affects women, whereas men are at a higher risk for conduction block and atrial fibrillation. We hypothesized that the sexual dimorphism of genes responsible for sinoatrial node (SAN) pacemaking and signaling pathways may contribute to the sex differences in HR and susceptibility to arrhythmias."

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Sandor Gyorke, PhD

Distinct intracellular spatiotemporal expression of Calmodulin genes underlies functional diversity of CaM-dependent signaling in cardiac myocytes

Sandor Gyorke, PhD, Jonathan Davis, PhD, Rengasayee Veeraraghavan, PhD & Thomas Hund, PhD

"Our findings reveal that Calm1, Calm2, and Calm3 fulfill distinct, non-redundant roles in cardiac myocytes through their spatially regulated mRNA localization (spatiotemporal coding). This precise spatial control of mRNA localization is critical for region-specific CaM signaling and is disrupted in hypertrophic heart failure, contributing to pathological remodeling."

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