HRI members celebrated at AAS, ANZMS and AVBS Joint Meeting

Several members of the Heart Research Institute (HRI) attended and presented at the special AAS, ANZMS and AVBS Joint Meeting held at the Adelaide Hills Convention Centre in Hahndorf last week.

In exciting news, Dr Samuel Baldwin and PhD student Alexander Lin also received awards at the meeting.

• Dr Samuel Baldwin, Microvascular Research Group – Winner of the ANZS Michael Perry 2023 award for the best Early Career Researcher (ECR) talk in the shortlisted ECR award session.
• Mr Alexander Lin, Atherosclerosis and Vascular Remodelling Group – Winner of an AVBS Rising Star Award. He was also awarded a Student Travel Grant to attend and present his abstract.

“Huge congratulations to my PhD student Alex for his Rising Star Award,” said Alexander’s supervisor and Leader of the Atherosclerosis and Vascular Remodelling Group, Dr Ashish Misra. “He gave a fantastic presentation on colchicine’s effect in atherosclerosis. Very proud of your work, Alex.”

Leader of the Microvascular Research Group, Dr Chris Stanley, also paid tribute to Dr Baldwin.

“I was fortunate to recruit Sam using HRI UK funding,” he said. “Within a few months he’s made a substantial impact on the project, which has been acknowledged by this recent award. It’s a great privilege to work with such a talented postdoc.”

Three scientific societies, the Australian Atherosclerosis Society (AAS), the Australian and New Zealand Microcirculation Society (ANZMS) and the Australian Vascular Biology Society (AVBS), came together to host the annual meeting and help foster research collaboration.

The purpose of the conference, which ran from October 29 to November 1, was to strengthen research communication between scientists, clinicians and students from a broad range of disciplines – all with a unifying interest in vascular biology.

Among the 136 delegates attending the meeting was a contingent of 10 HRI researchers and students, including the Director of Science Strategy, Prof Mathew Vadas AO.

HRI was also a joint Silver Sponsor of the event, and Dr Siân Cartland from the Vascular Complications Group was a program committee member.

Dr Cartland and Assoc Prof Mary Kavurma from the Vascular Complications Group each chaired a session of the meeting.

The following HRI researchers also gave presentations.

• Dr Samuel Baldwin, Microvascular Research Group – Novel IDO-1 generated tryptophan derivative, cis-WOOH, mediates vasorelaxation of murine mesenteric arteries via BKCa (ECR ANZMS Rising Star Finalist); Marked oestrous cycle-dependent regulation of rat arterial KV7.4 channels driven by GPER1 (oral presentation)
  
• Dr Siân Cartland, Vascular Complications Group – Improving blood vessels in PAD: endothelial-derived TRAIL and TRAIL-R2 interaction generates stable microvessels in ischaemia (oral presentation – showcased)
• Mr Ethan Italiano, Thrombosis Group – Investigation of fibrin contribution to pulmonary microangiopathy in COVID-19 patients (oral presentation)
• Assoc Prof Mary Kavurma, Vascular Complications Group – Impact of biological sex on the vasculature (SCOLAR Invited Speaker); Sex differences in peripheral artery disease (oral presentation)
• Mr Alexander Lin, Atherosclerosis and Vascular Remodelling Group – Colchicine stabilises atherosclerotic plaques independently of inflammation (AVBS PhD Rising Star Winner)

• Dr Ashish Misra, Atherosclerosis and Vascular Remodelling Group – Colchicine promotes atherosclerotic plaque regression through NOTCH-3 regulation of smooth muscle cell phenotype (oral presentation – showcased)
• Ms Laura Moldovan, Thrombosis Group – Novel compression-tensile force coupling mechanism enables neutrophil adhesion under high shear (AVBS PhD Rising Star Finalist)
• Mr Millard Phiphatphol, Microvascular Research Group – IDO1 contributes to microvascular dysfunction in models of septic shock (oral presentation)

A huge congratulations to all the HRI team who attended and gave such engaging presentations.