Training - Clonal Hematopoiesis and Atherosclerosis

our Training

Clonal Hematopoiesis and Atherosclerosis

In addition to our efforts in scientific discovery and therapeutic exploration in CH and atherosclerosis, the training and education of emerging investigators is an essential goal of our network.

We expect that the interweaving of basic and clinical studies in network collaborations will provide excellent training for young scientists.

We have established an early stage investigator program, led by Dr Oliver Soehnlein.

This program will feature a mentorship and training plan with a dedicated budget and structured review process to support travel and collaborations between network laboratories.

Junior members of the Network can apply to the Travel and Collaboration program here.

This program will feature a mentorship and training plan with a dedicated budget and structured review process to support travel and collaborations between network laboratories.

Dr. Nan Wang

graduated from Shandong Medical College in China and then obtained his Ph.D from University of Illinois at Chicago. Following the postdoctoral training in NCI of NIH in Bethesda, MD, he moved to Columbia University Medical Center, working in Dr. Alan Tall’s lab in Department of Medicine. He is currently Associate Professor of Medical Sciences at CUMC. His main research interest is atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. His earlier work was to evaluate the role of HDL metabolism and mechanisms responsible for regulation of cellular cholesterol efflux in atherogenesis. Currently, his research is focused on assessing genetic polymorphisms or mutations that affect atherogenesis by modulating hematopoiesis and inflammatory responses.

Tetsushi Nakao

is a research fellow interested in the basics and therapeutic development of vascular diseases, especially from the aspects of inflammation. He aims to integrate conventional and developing methods including in vivo, in vitro, genetics or new sequencing technologies to promote understanding of the mechanisms that lead to developing therapies of cardiovascular diseases. He graduated from Faculty of Medicine at Kyoto University in 2006, thereafter finished his clinical training in internal medicine and cardiology in Japan. He completed his Ph.D. work at Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine in 2017, investigating the contribution of microRNA-33 in abdominal aortic aneurysm. He is supported by The Uehara Memorial Foundation Research Fellowship.

Wenli Liu

earned her BS and MD degrees from Tianjin Medical University in 2013 and 2018, respectively. She now works as a postdoctoral research scientist studying the molecular mechanisms of clonal hematopoiesis (CH) and CH-associated cardiovascular diseases in the laboratory of Dr. Alan Tall at Columbia University. Her current focus is modeling the effect of Jak2^VF on erythropoiesis and atherosclerosis. Her hope is that her research will continue to contribute to the groundwork for developing cardiac therapies that will benefit the tens of millions of patients who suffer from cardiovascular disease. When not at the bench, Dr. Liu enjoys cooking spicy foods.

Amy Lin

obtained her HBSc at the Department of Immunology, University of Toronto and her MD/PhD studies under the supervision of Prof. Tak Mak at the University of Toronto. Upon completion of Internal Medicine Residency training at the University of Toronto, she moved to Boston for Cardiology Fellowship training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. She is now a postdoctoral research fellow in Cardiovascular Medicine and Hematology with Prof. Benjamin Ebert, at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

Kanako Wakahasi

is a hematologist and postdoctoral fellow in the Hidalgo laboratory at CNIC. She has studied hematopoietic niche in bone marrow and myelofibrosis/osteosclerosis complicated with myeloproliferative neoplasm. She would like to reveal how innate immune cells communicate with the hematopoietic niche in bone marrow, and whether this process is altered during Clonal Hematopoiesis.

Jayakrishanan Gopakumar

is at Stanford University with Dr. Siddhartha Jaiswal’s lab, where he is interested in exploring how loss of function of epigenetic modifiers with opposing functions, namely Tet2 and DNMT3a, converge in a subset of hematopoietic stem cells on a similar atherogenic phenotype

Iván Ballesteros

did his graduate studies on Biology and Master studies at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, working on the role of innate immunity in stroke under the supervision of Dr. María Angeles Moro. After a postdoctoral position at the Kings College London and at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center he joined the laboratory of Dr. Andrés Hidalgo to explore the heterogeneity of neutrophils under homeostasis.

Maximilian Mauler

received his PhD in Biology from the University-Heart Center Freiburg in 2017 working on platelet-leukocyte interactions in cardiovascular diseases (CVD). He is currently working as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Prof. Soehnlein at the Institute for Cardiovascular Prevention in Munich. His scientific focus is to understand how clonal hematopoiesis (CH) shapes neutrophils and their inflammatory profile during CVD like atherosclerosis or myocardial infarction. He tries to answer the question how the observations of CH and anti-inflammatory treatment can be intertwined to develop novel, preventive treatment options for patients suffering from CVD. Aside from the bench, Dr. Mauler can be found on a basketball court and, more recently, on a golf course with less than moderate success.

Andrea Rubio

is a PhD student at Andrés Hidalgo’s lab. She is currently applying computational biology and bioinformatics to take a new perspective on the role of neutrophils and other myeloid leukocytes in the homeostatic tissue. She also loves developing tools that can be useful to other researchers.

Patrick Ampomah

received his bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from the University of Ghana, Accra in 2012. In 2018, he completed his PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology of Inflammation at the School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, where he investigated the role of formyl peptide receptor 2 in acute Influenza A virus infection. In 2018, he joined the Tabas laboratory at Columbia University as a post-doctoral scientist with a keen interest in understanding the molecular mechanisms linking Clonal Haematopoiesis (CH) to defective inflammation resolution and atherosclerosis. He hopes that his work will contribute to understanding the basic biology of CH-associated diseases, with the ultimate goal of improving therapeutics that will be beneficial to suffering patients. Patrick loves dancing and traveling, and when not discussing science, he likes to engage in socio-political, culture, and religious issues.

Trevor Fidler

obtained his B.S in Biochemistry from the New Mexico State University. He then obtained his PhD from the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Utah under the supervision Dr. Evan Dale Abel with co-mentorship from Dr. Andrew S. Weyrich. Following completion of his thesis work Trevor began a postdoctoral fellowship in the lab of Dr. Alan R. Tall at Columbia University. In Dr. Tall’s laboratory Trevor’s work has centered on understanding how clonal hematopoiesis contributes the cardiovascular disease. Trevor has been awarded a young investigator award from the Midwest Platelet Conference, “William C. Stanley” Early Career Investigator Award, Society of Heart and Vascular Metabolism and he was a finalist for the Kenneth M. Brickhous Award in Thrombosis, from the American Heart Association.

Marian Zuriaga

Marian Zuriaga obtained her PhD from the University of Valencia, where she worked on the field of parasitology and tropical diseases. After her PhD, she moved to Boston, where she became a postdoctoral associate in Dr. Kenneth Walsh’s laboratory at Boston University. During her postdoc she worked on different aspects of metabolism, aging and cardiovascular disease, supported by an AHA Postdoctoral Fellowship. She is currently working at CNIC with Dr. Jose Javier Fuster, unveiling the contribution of different clonal hematopoiesis driver mutations to atherosclerosis development.

Ahmad Herra

Herra is a medical student from Germany, currently in her final year at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin. She has completed several visiting clerkships during her medical studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, St. Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University in Russia, and Shanti Nursing Home in India. Her scholarly interests are in experimental research and cardiovascular medicine. She plans to complete her doctoral thesis study here in the Jaiswal Lab, which focuses on the link between clonal hematopoiesis and atherosclerosis. Herra’s goal is to become a successful cardiologist and set up a hospital in India one day.

Andrea Herrero

I am a PhD researcher with experience in the field of metabolic diseases such as T2DM and its associated complications (CVD and hepatic steatosis). My research experience is endorsed with scientific publications in Q1 journals with the participation in different congresses where I present several oral communications and posters.
I am very organized and with a teamwork capability and I have also experience teaching and leading degree and MSc students.
I would like to continue studying and researching in the field of metabolic diseases.

Beatriz Neble

BSc in Biotechnology, BSc in Biology, MSc in Biomedical Research, MSc in Bioinformatics and Biostatistics. PhD candidate in Molecular Biosciences.

Maryam Zekavat

Maryam graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a B.S. in Biological Engineering. During her undergraduate experience one of her key experiences was traveling to Switzerland and engaging in research at Roche where she developed a mathematical model of cholesterol dynamics in the outer retina to understand the pathogenesis of dry age-related macular degeneration, a blinding disease.

Nuria Matesanz

Nuria Matesanz obtained her PhD in 2005 by Universidad Autónoma de Madrid elucidating the impact of oxidative stress on vascular cells under the supervision of Dr Sánchez-Ferrer and Dr Peiró. In 2006 she moved to Queen’s University Belfast (UK) where she work on the interaction between inflammation and diabetes in the vasculature at Prof. Trimble´s lab and the regulation of vascular angiogenesis in Dr McDonald´s group. She came back to Spain at CNIC Dr Sabio´s Lab to investigate the role of stress kinases in metabolism. Currently, she works at CNIC Dr Fuster´s Lab analyzing the interaction between the hematopoietic and the cardiovascular systems in the context of cardiovascular disease.