Excited to share that tomorrow, Dr. Alex Carll will be giving a seminar on how vaping affects cardiac function through autonomic pathways. He’ll break down emerging evidence on vape constituents and their cardiotoxic mechanisms at the University of Louisville Belknap Academic Building 125 #cardiosky

The single greatest asset of the Center is our people. We're proud to showcase the outstanding trainees who power our research, advance scientific discovery, and represent the future of cardiometabolic science. Today, we begin with Caitlin Wilkerson; check her out 👇

Dr. Helen Collins, Associate Professor in the Center, will be one of the Keynote Speakers at this week's 2026 Vascular and Heart Research Symposium at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech. #cardiosky @uoflenvirome.bsky.social @uoflmedicine.bsky.social

New research from the Hellmann and Sansbury labs shows PM2.5 doesn’t just irritate the lungs — it reversibly disrupts key inflammation‑resolving lipid pathways and red‑blood‑cell homeostasis. A powerful reminder that air pollution reaches far beyond the respiratory system @uoflenvirome.bsky.social

Congratulations to summer undergraduate research students, Navya Goli (Haberzettl lab) and Ryli Bulla (Gibb lab), who presented this afternoon at the Undergraduate Summer Research Showcase. They both did exceptionally well this summer with their projects and at the showcase. Well done. #cardiosky

Congratulations to Dr. Helen E. Collins (pictured) for being named Chair Elect for the American Heart Association Basic Cardiovascular Sciences (BCVS) Communications Committee for 2026-2028. #Cardiosky @ahascience.bsky.social @uoflenvirome.bsky.social

Proud to share a new Nature Communications paper led by Dr. Daniel Nguyen of the Hill lab. The team identified TAK1 as a gatekeeper of inflammatory cardiac fibroblasts, regulating immune cell recruitment and post-MI remodeling.

Congratulations to our Center Director, Dr. Steven Jones (pictured), for being named Chair Elect for the American Heart Association Basic Cardiovascular Sciences (BCVS) Conference Program Committee for 2026-2028. #CardioSky @uoflenvirome.bsky.social @stevenpjones.bsky.social @ahascience.bsky.social

New publication alert! Petra Haberzettl and colleagues have a new publication in Toxicological Sciences.

Excited to share a new publication led by Dr. Ben Doelling of the Baba Laboratory in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Can diet influence how the heart responds to exercise? In this new publication from Drs. Kyle Fulghum, Helen E. Collins, and Bradford Hill, in The Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology, investigated whether dietary branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) affect exercise-induced cardiac growth.

Congratulations to Caitlin Wilkerson on receiving an NIH/NHLBI F31 Predoctoral Fellowship for her project, “Ionic Regulation of Macrophage Phenotype and Plasticity.” This award recognizes not only a promising research program but also Caitlin’s persistence, rigor, and excellence. Well deserved.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Yibing Nong and Dr. Helen Collins on their promotions to Associate Professor, effective July 1, 2026. Their dedication, scholarship, and contributions have made a lasting impact. We celebrate this milestone and look forward to their continued achievements.

Big news! We are excited to announce that Jason Hellmann (pictured) has been awarded an NIH S10 grant to upgrade and expand our lipidomics capabilities. We can’t wait to bring this next-generation analytical power to our research community. #massspectrometry #lipidomics #NIH #cardiosky

Excited to share the latest review in AJP-Heart from the Laboratory of Dr. Helen Collins, led by Avery N. Kendall. From bump to pump: extracellular matrix remodeling, dynamics, and biomechanics in the maternal heart explores how the maternal heart adapts during pregnancy.

More good news is coming out of the Carll Lab in the Center — and it’s arriving in rapid succession. Dr. Alex Carll (pictured) has been awarded a $3.9M NIH R01 grant for a new project titled: “Cardiorespiratory and Autonomic Impacts of Coolants in E‑Cigarette Aerosols.”

Cooling additives in e-cigs aren’t harmless. New work from the Carll Lab shows synthetic coolants (WS‑3, WS‑23) ↑ autonomic imbalance and trigger ventricular arrhythmias—independent of nicotine. Implication: “ice” flavors may elevate cardiac risk beyond nicotine alone. #Vaping #Cardiosky

Heading to Kidney Camp next week? Dr. Sophia Sears (pictured) will present recent work from her lab showing that exercise can accelerate recovery from renal ischemia/reperfusion injury during the Tuesday poster session (June 23) between 6 and 7 pm. #renalsky #kidneysky

Professor Guyton built his career on feedback control, so consider this our (slightly delayed) feedback: Dr. Helen Collins winning the 2026 Arthur C. Guyton Award is exactly the equilibrium the field should settle into. Congratulations, Helen! 🫀 #Cardiosky #Physiology

Latest from the Wysoczynski lab! In Experimental Hematology, Stephan et al. show that after MI, SiglecF⁺ neutrophils arise locally in the heart—not from immature cells, but from mature CD101⁺ neutrophils.

Several of the faculty and trainees from the center presented their latest cutting-edge cardiovascular research at last week's International Society for Heart Research-North American section meeting in Minnesota. It was a great meeting for all. #ISHRNAS2026 #cardiosky

Huge congratulations to Dr. Benjamin Doelling (pictured) on defending his PhD today! His work shows that restoring cardiac carnosine levels in heart failure reduces chronic cardiac inflammation and rescues cardiac function. We are proud of you and your accomplishments.

Rounding out the CCS presentations, Dr. Helen Collins will present in the Women's Cardiovascular Health Session in the Nicollet D room at 8 am on June 3. Her presentation will discuss recent findings from the lab examining Remodeling in the Female Heart in response to Pathological Stress.

Made your list for poster session 1 and now thinking about poster session 2 on June 2 at ISHR-NAS, three of our Center Trainees will be presenting posters in the Exhibit Hall beginning at 4:30 pm.

Planning your agenda for Tuesday, June 2 at ISHR-NAS? Steven Jones (pictured) kicks off Session 11: Fibroblasts/ Fibrosis at 11:30 am in the lakeshore room, where he will discuss recent work from his laboratory examining post-myocardial infarction ventricular remodeling. @stevenpjones.bsky.social

Making your list of posters to visit at ISHR-NAS on Monday, June 1? Avery Kendall (pictured), an MEng Student in the laboratory of Dr. Helen Collins, will present her thesis work on changes in the maternal cardiac extracellular matrix during pregnancy and the postpartum period (Poster #155).

Building out your itinerary for Monday, June 1 at ISHR-NAS 2026? Be sure to stop by the Cardiac Metabolomics Session (Session 4) at 11:30 am in the Lakeshore room, where you will hear from two of our Center Faculty. #Cardiosky #ISHRNAS #ISHRNAS2026

Headed to ISHR-NAS 2026 this weekend, several Center Faculty and Trainees will be attending and presenting.

Congratulations to Dr. Jonah Stephan on defending his PhD yesterday! His dissertation on emergency granulopoiesis and wound healing after myocardial infarction is exactly the kind of mechanistic work that advances the field. We are proud that he trained in the Center. #CardioSky.

We are excited to host Dr. Loren Wold (pictured) from The Ohio State University, a leading expert on cardiac physiology and environmental toxicology, for today’s Environmental Medicine Grand Rounds.