Rachel Vanderlaan

One main project focuses on the role of mechanotransduction in pulmonary vein stenosis (PVS), a rare pediatric vascular disease. The lab used  in vivo animal models, in vitro cell culture shear stress and stain experiments  to identify key signal transduction pathways regulating pulmonary venous endothelial and smooth muscle homeostasis in response to disturbed flow patterns to facilitate discovery of novel therapeutics.  The lab also complements these experiments with computational flow dynamics (collaborator, Dr. Christina Amon, UofT Engineering).  In addition to laboratory work, translational projects include whole genome sequencing of PVS patients (collaborator, Ted Rogers Genome clinic) and biomarker discovery in this unique cohort.

In addition to laboratory work, Dr. Vanderlaan is co-Director of the PVS Network (www.PVSNetwork.org) and is the principal investigator for the multi-institutional PVS Network Registry study (Funded by Heart and Stroke). This is the largest registry of its kind in North America and seeks to understand contemporary outcomes in children with pulmonary vein stenosis and factors associated with survival. In addition, registry genetic and biomarker sub-studies will provide translational components to these ongoing studies.

Collaborators: Drs. Cristine Amon, Craig Simmons, Rebekah Jobling

METHODS USED

Cell culture, molecular and biochemical techniques, animal models, computational fluid dynamic modeling

EQUIPMENT USED

iBidi flow system, Flexcell system, Confocal microscope

PRESENT TRAINEES

Alessia DiNardo  (MSc,   Co – Supervised)

Select Publications

Vanderlaan RD, Rome J, Hirsch R, Ivy D, Caldarone CA. Pulmonary vein stenosis: Treatment and challenges. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2021 Jun;161(6):2169-2176. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2020.05.117. Epub 2020 Jun 27. PMID: 32763037.

Kuzmanov U, Wang EY, Vanderlaan R, Kim DH, Lee SH, Hadipour-Lakmehsari S, Guo H, Zhao Y, McFadden M, Sharma P, Billia F, Radisic M, Gramolini A, Emili A. Mapping signalling perturbations in myocardial fibrosis via the integrative phosphoproteomic profiling of tissue from diverse sources. Nat Biomed Eng. 2020 Sep;4(9):889-900. doi: 10.1038/s41551-020-0585-y. Epub 2020 Jul 13. PMID: 32661320.