皇家华人

Laura Norwood Toro
Research Scientist I
lnorwood@mcw.edu

Laura Norwood Toro is a Research Scientist I in the Andreas Beyer Lab. Her primary responsibility is to explore the effect of chemotherapy on cardiovascular outcomes in coronary circulation and vascular endothelium. One focus of her studies is to investigate the functions of telomerase in the nucleus versus the mitochondria. Her background is in cell biology and molecular biology.

Bill Hughes, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
whughes@mcw.edu

Bill Hughes is a postdoctoral fellow in the Beyer/Gutterman Lab. Prior to starting at MCW he received his PhD from the University of Iowa. His research interests are human integrative cardiovascular physiology and vascular biology in health, aging, and chronic disease. In collaboration with Dr. Beyer and Dr. Gutterman, he is studying the cross-talk between autophagy, a basic cellular recycling process, and telomerase within the context of microvascular function in coronary artery disease (CAD). Flow-mediated dilation is predominately mediated by nitric oxide (NO) in healthy populations, but this mediator switches to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) with CAD. Autophagy has recently been demonstrated to be sensitive to shear stress, and preliminary data from our lab indicates that inhibition of autophagy switches the mediator of FMD from NO to H2O2 in non-CAD vessels, while activation of autophagy in CAD vessels recapitulates a healthy phenotype (NO-mediated). Additionally, our lab has also demonstrated that upregulation of telomerase reduces mitochondrial release of H2O2 in vessels with CAD, restoring NO-mediated FMD. In this context, it is possible that there is significant crosstalk between pathways, with telomerase upstream of autophagy. Collectively, as numerous chronic diseases modulate both telomerase activity and autophagy it remains unknown how these two processes are inherently linked in the context of CAD.

Shelby Hader
Research Technologist II
shader@mcw.edu

Shelby Hader is a Research Technologist II in the Beyer/Gutterman Lab. Prior to starting at MCW she received her BA from the Lawrence University. Her primary goal is to analyze the vascular reactivity of human coronary arterioles and adipose micro vessels within different healthy and diseased patients. Some of her projects include: the cardiotoxicity of chemotherapy upon the microvasculature along with measuring the differences between fission and fusion of mitochondria in human arterioles. Additionally, Shelby provides research support for multiple projects in the lab via imaging, dissection of discarded tissue, and rat/mice colony maintenance.

Steve Hammond, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow

Steve Hammond is a postdoctoral fellow in the Beyer lab. Prior to his start at MCW, he earned his doctorate from Kansas State University where he investigated the adverse cardiovascular consequences of 5-fluorouracil chemotherapy and modalities to alleviate their occurrence. Steve is most interested in better understanding the mitochondrial contributions to cardiovascular function in health in disease. He is currently studying the role of mitochondrial signaling in the development of anticancer therapy induced microvascular dysfunction. Specifically, his primary projects aim to elucidate the role of tumor derived circulating factors and alterations in mitochondrial calcium signaling in the development of microvascular pathology during anti-cancer treatment.

Erin Birch
Research Technologist I
ebirch@mcw.edu

Erin Birch is a research technologist in Dr. Beyer and Dr. Zhang’s labs. Erin has experience researching autoimmune diseases, chronic kidney disease, and cardiovascular disease. She is working with Dr. Beyer’s lab to provide support with several projects. Erin also contributes to the analysis of microvascular function in patients with coronary artery disease, COVID-19, and healthy patients. In her free time, Erin enjoys traveling and adventuring in the Rocky Mountains.

Lukas Brandt
Research Assistant
lbrandt@mcw.edu

Lukas Brandt is a graduate student in Dr. Beyer's lab. Prior to starting at MCW's physiology program, he received his bachelor's degree from the University of Applied Science Bingen, Germany with a major in biotechnology. He received additional training in a Molecular Biology master program at the Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany before pursuing his education in physiology at MCW. His research interests are whole organ physiology with a focus on cardiovascular pathology in response to clinical used anti-cancer therapy. Lukas aims to utilize rodent models to investigate physiological and molecular changes that lead to cardiovascular disease.

Cristhian Gutierrez Huerta
Research Assistant
cgutierrez@mcw.edu

Cristhian Gutierrez Huerta is a graduate MSTP student in the Beyer/Gutterman Lab. He graduated with a BS in Applied Mathematics and Biological Sciences from the University of California, Merced in 2018. He then completed a 2-yr post-baccalaureate research fellowship at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. In the Beyer/Gutterman group, he will begin work on identifying the role of mitochondrial fission/fusion on microvascular endothelial function and its relationship to coronary artery disease progression.

Karen Clark, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
kaclark@mcw.edu

Karen Clark is a postdoctoral fellow working with Drs Beyer and Kriegel to investigate biological factors that lead to disparate chemotherapy treatment outcomes in breast cancer patients of color compared to Caucasian women. She is also studying the role of mitofusin 1 in the vascular endothelium and whether overexpression is a protective factor against certain stressors. Prior to joining the team, she earned her PhD in Genetics at the University of Iowa, investigating the genetic basis of susceptibility to complex diseases in a rat model of Metabolic Syndrome. Her research interests include Precision Medicine, cancer biology, and metabolism.