Amber Stratman, PhD
Assistant Professor
Cell Biology and Physiology
Developmental, Regenerative and Stem Cell Biology Program
Molecular Cell Biology Program
Molecular Genetics and Genomics Program
Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology Program
314 273-7928
McDonnell Sciences, Room 416
a.stratman@wustl.edu
https://stratmanlab.wustl.edu
mechanobiology, vascular, endothelial cell, blood flow
The Stratman lab is broadly interested in how blood vessels form and stabilize during development, and how changes in these processes affect tissue homeostasis and disease.
Research Abstract:
Many diseases such as atherosclerosis/restenosis, cancer, stroke and diabetic retinopathies have known connections to vascular dysfunction caused by targeted disruptions in physical support of the vasculature. In diabetic retinopathy for instance, there is thought to be a drop-out of cells surrounding blood vessels, making the remaining vasculature much more susceptible to micro-hemorrhages that are ultimately responsible for the blindness associated with the disorder. In atherosclerotic plaques, vascular associated smooth muscle cells are known to dedifferentiate to adopt a synthetic matrix producing phenotype that has been intimately connected to the progression of the disease. Despite the fact that there is a known phenotypic relationship between multiple diseases and vascular stabilization, there is an associated lack of mechanistic understanding of normal function to effectively develop specific therapeutics targeted at prevention and treatment of disorders. Therefore, my labs long-term research interests focus on understanding mechanisms regulating vascular stabilization during development with the end goal of understanding disease.
My lab uses zebrafish to study vascular development and cellular behavior. Zebrafish as a vertebrate model organism offer a number of advantages that make it an ideal system to study development of the vascular wall- including external fertilization, proper embryonic growth in the absence of functional vasculature or blood flow, optical clarity for longitudinal imaging, and genetic/experimental accessibility. The field remains largely uncharted giving us the unique opportunity to exploit newly developed tools to broaden the understanding of vascular cell biology and the mechanisms regulating function. Research in my laboratory will aid in the understanding of developmental processes regulating vascular function and will in turn 1) provide a broader understanding of how the blood vessel wall is assembled, 2) define genetic pathways critical for proper function and 3) provide a platform to assess dysfunction in cellular interactions during cardiovascular disease.
Selected Publications:
Abello J, Yien YY, and Stratman AN. Adaptation of peristaltic pumps for laminar flow experiments. bioRxiv. (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.17.464751v1)
Kundishora AJ, Peters S, Pinard A, Duran D, Panchagnula S, Barak T, Miyagishima DF, Dong W, Nelson-Williams C, Haider S, Walker RL, Li B, Zhao H, Thumkeo C, Duy PQ, Diab N, Sujijantarat N, Chen Y, Stratman AN*, Zhao S, Roszko I, Lu Q, Zhang B, Mane S, Castaldi C, López-Giráldez F, Knight JR, Geschwind DH, Lang Chen S, Storm PB, Matouk C, Alper SL, Smith ER, Lifton RP, Gunel M, Mileciz DM, Jin SC, and Kahle KT. DIAPH1 mutations in non-East Asian patients with sporadic moyamoya disease. JAMA Neurology.
Sah R, Stratman AN, and Abello J. Isolation of mouse lung endothelial cells. Bio-protocol. 2021: p1169.
Alghanem AF, Abello J, Mauer JM, Ashutosh K, Ta CM, Gunasekar SK, Fatima U, Kang C, Xie L, Adeola O, Riker M, Elliot-Hudson M, Minerath RA, Grueter CE, Mullins RF, Stratman AN and Sah R. The SWELL1-LRRC8 complex regulates endothelial AKT-eNOS-mTOR signaling and vascular function. eLife. 2021: 10: e61313.
Stratman AN and Weinstein BM. Assessment of Vascular Patterning in the Zebrafish. Methods Molecular Biology, Eds, Domenico Ribatti, Springer. 2021: Vol. 2206:205-222.
Stratman AN, Burns MC, Farrelly OM, Davis AE, Li W, Pham VN, Castranova D, Yano JJ, Goddard LM, Nguyen O, Venero Galanternik M, Bolan TJ, Kahn ML, Mukouyama Y, and Weinstein BM. A Molecular Pathway for Arterial-Specific Association of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells. Communications Biology. 2020: 3(1): 1-13.
Stratman AN, Farrelly OM, Miller MF, Mikelis CM, Wang Z, Burns MC, Pezoa SA, Pham VN, Castranova D, Davis AE, Kilts TM, Davis GE, Gutkind JS, Pan W and Weinstein BM (2018). Anti-angiogenic effects of VEGF stimulation on endothelium deficient in phosphoinositide recycling. bioRxiv: doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/402362
Krispin S*, Stratman AN*, Melick CH, Stan RV, Malinverno M, Gleklen J, Castranova D, Dejana E and Weinstein BM (2018). Growth Differentiation Factor 6 (GDF6) promotes vascular stability by restraining VEGF signaling. ATVB. PMCID: 29284606 *equal contributors
Stratman AN, Pezoa SA, Farrelly OM, Castranova D, Dye LE, Butler MG, Sidik H, Talbot WS and Weinstein BM (2017). Interactions between mural cells and endothelial cells stabilize the developing zebrafish dorsal aorta. Development, 144(1): 115-127. PMCID: 27913637
Venero Galanternik M, Castranova D, Gore AV, Blewett NH, Jung HM, Stratman AN, Kirby MR, Iben J, Miller MF, Kawakami K, Maraia RJ and Weinstein BM (2017). A novel perivascular cell population in the zebrafish brain. Elife, 11;6. PMCID: 28395729
Nohata N, Uchida Y, Stratman AN, Adams RH, Zheng Y, Weinstein BM, Mukouyama YS, Gutkind JS (2016). Temporal-specific roles of Rac1 during vascular development and retinal angiogenesis. Developmental Biology, 411(2): 183-94. PMCID: 26872874
Pan W*, Pham VN*, Stratman AN, Castranova D, Kamei M, Kidd KR, Lo BD, Shaw KM, Torres-Vasquez J, Mikelis CM, Gutkind JS, Davis GE and Weinstein BM (2012). CDP-diacylglycerol synthetase-controlled phosphoinositide availability limits VEGFA signaling and vascular morphogenesis. Blood, 120(2): 489-98. PMCID: 22649102 *equal contributors
Stratman AN and Davis GE (2012). Endothelial cell-pericyte interactions stimulate basement membrane matrix assembly: Influence on vascular tube remodeling, maturation and stabilization. Microscopy and Microanalysis, 18: 1-13 PMCID: 22166617
Stratman AN, Davis MJ and Davis GE (2011). VEGF and FGF prime vascular tube morphogenesis and sprouting directed by hematopoietic stem cell cytokines. Blood, 117(14): 3790-19. PMCID: 21239704
Stratman AN, Schwindt AE, Malotte KM and Davis GE (2010). Endothelial-derived PDGF-BB and HB-EGF coordinately regulate pericyte recruitment during vasculogenic tube assembly and stabilization. Blood, 116: 4720-30. PMCID: 20739660
Stratman AN, Malotte KM, Mahan RD, Davis MJ and Davis GE (2009). Pericyte recruitment during vasculogenic tube assembly stimulates endothelial basement membrane matrix formation. Blood, 114(24): 5091-101. PMCID: 19822899
Last Updated: 12/29/2021 1:00:56 AM