HomeCirculation ResearchVol. 123, No. 4Meet the First Authors Free AccessIn BriefPDF/EPUBAboutView PDFView EPUBSections ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload citationsTrack citationsPermissions ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InMendeleyReddit Jump toFree AccessIn BriefPDF/EPUBMeet the First Authors Originally published2 Aug 2018https://doi.org/10.1161/RES.0000000000000221Circulation Research. 2018;123:398–400is related toTbx20 Is Required in Mid-Gestation Cardiomyocytes and Plays a Central Role in Atrial DevelopmentCirculating Progenitor Cells and Racial DifferencesImaging the Vascular Bone Marrow Niche During Inflammatory StressBinding of Dickkopf-3 to CXCR7 Enhances Vascular Progenitor Cell Migration and Degradable Graft Regenerationis related toLarge-Scale Single-Cell RNA-Seq Reveals Molecular Signatures of Heterogeneous Populations of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Endothelial CellsImaging the Inflamed Vascular Bone Marrow Niche (p 415)Download figureDownload PowerPointDr Katrien Vandoorne studied Veterinary Medicine at Ghent University in Belgium. She earned her PhD in the laboratory of Dr Michal Neeman at the Weizmann Institute in Israel, where she honed her skills in preclinical molecular imaging. Afterwards, she moved to the Biomedical NMR group of the late Dr Klaas Nicolay as an assistant professor, developing novel cardiac imaging techniques at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. She joined the laboratory of Dr Matthias Nahrendorf at MGH, Harvard Medical School in Boston, to expand her skills and learn more about hematopoietic stem cells. Together with Dr David Rohde, she focused on vascular imaging of the bone marrow niche. Dr Vandoorne recently moved back to Europe for a tenure-track assistant professorship at the Eindhoven University of Technology with Dr Carlijn Bouten and is also a visiting scientist at the Weizmann Institute. As a mother of three, she is grateful to her husband, her mentors and, her colleagues who have encouraged her along the way. She feels that women provide a very important input to science. In addition to science, she enjoys family time, yoga, and skiing.Tbx20 Controls Cardiomyocyte Identity (p 428)Download figureDownload PowerPointDr Cornelis “Kees” Boogerd did his PhD studies in the lab of Antoon Moorman at the University of Amsterdam, where he studied protein-protein interactions of T-box transcription factors and their roles in cardiac development and disease. After completing his PhD, he joined the lab of Dr Sylvia Evans in San Diego, CA, to study transcriptional regulation of cardiac development. Joining forces with the lab of Marcelo Nobrega, he examined tissue-specific roles of Tbx20 in the developing and adult heart. One of these studies is now published in this issue of Circulation Research. It is these collaborations that Kees particularly enjoyed from his postdoc years in San Diego. In addition, the interaction with many great colleagues have made these years a great experience, both professionally and on a personal level. Currently, he works at the Hubrecht Institute for developmental biology and stem cell research in Utrecht, the Netherlands, in the lab of Eva van Rooij. Here, he studies epigenetic mechanisms in cardiomyocyte development and regeneration after ischemic heart disease. There are many lessons that can be learned from the developing and neonatal heart that yield relevant insights for the treatment of adult heart disease. He aims to find a PI position and build a research group around this theme. When not in the lab, Kees likes to spend time with his wife and three kids, for instance, going sailing or just enjoying a beer in the Dutch “sun.” Although there were many good reasons to move back from San Diego to the Netherlands, the weather surely wasn’t one of them.Single-Cell RNA-seq of Human iPSC-ECs (p 443)Download figureDownload PowerPointDr David Paik is a postdoctoral fellow working with Dr Joseph Wu at Stanford Cardiovascular Institute. At Stanford, his focus is to utilize single-cell RNA-sequencing technology to elucidate patient-specific mechanisms of various cardiovascular diseases, characterize embryonic heart development, and optimize differentiation of iPSCs to subtypes of cardiovascular cells. Dr Paik received his BA in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Boston University (2010) and PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology at Vanderbilt University (2015). At Vanderbilt, Dr Paik was trained by Dr Antonis Hatzopoulos to investigate the endogenous cardiac repair mechanisms in the adult heart following ischemic injury, such as myocardial infarction. In particular, Dr Paik focused on the role of Wnt signaling pathway on coronary vessel formation and plasticity of cardiac endothelial cells during cardiac tissue repair. During his PhD training, Dr Paik completed HHMI/VUMC Certificate Program in Molecular Medicine, where he was supervised by his clinical mentor, Dr Douglas Sawyer, to interact with congestive heart failure patients and to bridge clinical sciences with basic and translational cardiovascular research. Outside the lab, Dr Paik is a competitive tennis and squash player, a fervent fan of the Tennessee Titans, and a wine enthusiast roaming in Napa Valley and Santa Cruz Mountains.Single-Cell RNA-seq of Human iPSC-ECs (p 443)Download figureDownload PowerPointDr Lei Tian earned his BS in Information and Computational Science from Wuhan University, China. Subsequently, he joined Human Genomics Group under the mentorship of Dr Shuhua Xu at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences for his PhD, focusing on the genetic regulation of human transcriptome at the population level. Lei is currently a postdoctoral fellow in Dr Joseph Wu’s laboratory at the Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford University. His research is focused on developing novel bioinformatic tools to mine undiscovered information in next-generation sequencing data and visualize the results. His long-term goal is to apply Artificial Intelligence techniques to early diagnosis and screening of cardiovascular diseases. Lei’s motto is “Work hard, work smart, and work together.” During his spare time, he enjoys playing basketball, traveling, cooking, and skyping with his family.Dkk3 Binds to Progenitor CXCR7 (p 451)Download figureDownload PowerPointDr Shirin Issa Bhaloo was awarded the Marie Curie PhD fellowship and completed her PhD in 2017, at King’s College London in UK (KCL, BHF Centre of Regenerative Medicine), under the supervision of Dr Qingbo Xu. Her PhD project focused on studying the function of resident vascular stem/progenitor cells in response to chemokines and to Dickkopf-3 (Dkk3) glycoprotein, under pathophysiological conditions. Importantly, she identified CXCR7 as the functional receptor of Dkk3 with high-binding affinity, and with her colleagues, she demonstrated that the Dkk3-CXCR7 axis is involved in the in situ recruitment of vascular stem/progenitors to regenerate tissue-engineered vessel grafts. Currently, Shirin is a Postdoc Fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT/IMES), Boston, where she conducts research projects in the fields of nanomedicine and tissue engineering. Shirin’s career goals include becoming an independent investigator and an entrepreneur, envisaging a link between the academic and pharma industry worlds aiming at finding translational solutions. Shirin is passionate about travelling and discovering new places and cultures, and she enjoys going to the beach and the movies very much.Dkk3 Binds to Progenitor CXCR7 (p 451)Download figureDownload PowerPointYifan Wu is a PhD student at Nankai University in China, under the supervision of Dr Deling Kong and Dr Qiang Zhao. Since 2017, she has been enrolled in the joint PhD program at King’s College London, under the supervision of Qingbo Xu. She earned a BS in Biotechnology from Shandong University. Yifan’s research focuses on the modification of small diameter vascular graft. She hopes to pursue postdoctoral research after obtaining her PhD and would like to continue her research in the mechanism of vascular regeneration. Her dream is to have her own lab in the future. Outside the lab, she likes traveling, cooking, and spending time with family and friends.Progenitor Cells and Black Race (p 467)Download figureDownload PowerPointDr Ayman Samman Tahhan is currently a second-year cardiology fellow at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. He received his MD degree from Aleppo University in Syria and completed his internal medicine training at Emory University in 2016, under the mentorship of Dr Arshed A. Quyyumi. His current research interests include biomarkers, progenitor cells, and outcomes of a variety of cardiovascular conditions, including atherosclerosis, acute coronary syndrome, atrial fibrillation, and heart failure. He is also interested in evaluating research methodology and clinical trial design. He is married and a father of two daughters, Amal and Neda. He loves outdoor activities with his family and enjoys playing soccer and table tennis. Previous Back to top Next FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsRelated articlesTbx20 Is Required in Mid-Gestation Cardiomyocytes and Plays a Central Role in Atrial DevelopmentCornelis J. Boogerd, et al. Circulation Research. 2018;123:428-442Circulating Progenitor Cells and Racial DifferencesAyman Samman Tahhan, et al. Circulation Research. 2018;123:467-476Imaging the Vascular Bone Marrow Niche During Inflammatory StressKatrien Vandoorne, et al. Circulation Research. 2018;123:415-427Binding of Dickkopf-3 to CXCR7 Enhances Vascular Progenitor Cell Migration and Degradable Graft RegenerationShirin Issa Bhaloo, et al. Circulation Research. 2018;123:451-466Large-Scale Single-Cell RNA-Seq Reveals Molecular Signatures of Heterogeneous Populations of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Endothelial CellsJoseph C. Wu, et al. Circulation Research. 2018;123:443-450 August 3, 2018Vol 123, Issue 4 Advertisement Article InformationMetrics © 2018 American Heart Association, Inc.https://doi.org/10.1161/RES.0000000000000221PMID: 30355259 Originally publishedAugust 2, 2018 PDF download Advertisement