Two Fralin Biomedical Research Institute postdoctoral associates awarded American Heart Association fellowships
The awards will help Karthi Sreedevi and Samar Antar advance their academic careers while conducting research related to cardiovascular disease.
Karthi Sreedevi’s research focuses on heart disease — the leading cause of death in the United States. A weakened heart can’t pump enough blood to meet the body’s need for oxygen and nutrients. “My long-term goal is to understand how the heart muscle works efficiently in energy production and functions normally under stress.”
She wants to become a global expert in cardiac glycobiology — the study of carbohydrates, sugar chains, or glycans — and improve the lives of heart disease patients.
Samar Antar is investigating pulmonary arterial hypertension, which affects the lungs and the right side of the heart, and a rare disease known as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a condition marked by scarring of lung tissues over time. Pulmonary fibrosis can lead to heart failure and other lung diseases.
The two early career scientists at Virginia Tech were awarded American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowships for two years. The competitive fellowships help support academic trainees conducting cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, or brain health research.
The scientists will receive stipends for their work under the mentorship of world class health researchers at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC.
Sreedevi joined Junco Warren’s lab in December 2021. Warren is an assistant professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute whose research interest focuses on metabolic reprogramming in heart failure. “Dr. Warren’s mentorship has rapidly developed my leadership of research projects,” Sreedevi said.
Sreedevi, who has two young children, was also awarded the Virginia Tech Research and Innovation Postdoctoral Scholarship and the Graduate Women in Science National Fellowship Honorary award in 2023. The awards provide additional training and support for career development. “I really admire her as a researcher and as a mother,” Warren said. “She’s an excellent postdoc.”
Antar studies the mechanisms that lead to lung fibrosis and inflammation. She was drawn to the field while pursuing a doctoral degree in pharmacology, where she was investigating the effect of cancer treatment on fibrosis.
“A normal lung is supposed to be soft and stretchy to help you breathe normally,” Antar said. In patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, the lungs become stiff and thick. “Over time, these changes make it more difficult for the patients to breathe properly. It’s like trying to blow up a balloon that’s been crumpled and doesn’t want to expand.”
Her research investigates the role of two proteins, Id1 and Id3, in pulmonary fibrosis. She is working in the lab of Yassine Sassi, assistant professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute. “Samar is a truly exceptional scientist,” Sassi said. “The American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship will help her to achieve an important milestone in her career path to an independent researcher.”
In this report
- Yassine Sassi, assistant professor, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine
- Junco Warren, assistant professor, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
