Biography
Dr Ashish Misra received his Masters degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India, and his PhD in cell and molecular biology from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in 2011.
Dr Misra joins HRI from Yale Cardiovascular Research Center (YCVRC), Yale University where he was a Postdoctoral Associate. He is a recipient of the prestigious Yale Brown-Cox Postdoctoral Fellowship. His research focuses on blood vessel wall development and the pathogenesis of diverse cardiovascular diseases. His recent work demonstrated the molecular processes and signals that are required for blood vessel wall patterning and how aberrant molecular signalling leads to vascular abnormalities.
Discoveries
The established NOTCH3 and TGFβ signalling pathways play a protective role in responding to plaque inflammation and lipid levels in atherosclerotic plaques. Research findings indicate that targeting molecules within these pathways could help stabilise atherosclerotic plaques, thereby reducing the risk of plaque rupture in patients with heart attacks and strokes.
We discovered that increasing NOTCH3 levels can help strengthen atherosclerotic plaques by increasing protective cells, reducing the risk of plaque rupture that can lead to heart attacks and strokes. This is a major advancement because, while current treatments for coronary heart disease focus on lowering overall inflammation or cholesterol levels, there is no existing medication that directly stabilises plaques. NOTCH3 has the potential to become one of the first molecule to directly strengthen plaques, offering a new and cell-based targeted approach to heart disease treatment.
“Research is a marathon, not a sprint. You have to work through the ups and downs.”