Aaron Proweller , MD, PhD

Assistant Director
Cardiovascular Research Institute
School of Medicine
Associate Professor
Department of Medicine
School of Medicine

Research Information

Research Interests

I am a clinical cardiologist and basic scientist with a fundamental research interest in vascular wall biology. Our research program broadly aims to identify mechanisms through which Notch signaling in vascular smooth muscle (SM) influences key features of blood vessel competency including vascular patterning, angiogenesis, and vasoreactivity. The laboratory utilizes mouse gene targeting in gain- and loss-of-function experiments and employs a wide array of cell, molecular and vascular imaging techniques to characterize the function of Notch signaling. Our lab is responsible for generating and characterizing mouse models that recapitulate cerebral arterial patterning defects seen in humans with increased stroke risk and for identifying novel Notch-mediated mechanisms regulating arterial force production and blood pressure. The long-term research goal is to determine how cellular derangements from Notch dysfunction play important roles in adult vascular disease, including hypertension and stroke and hypoxia-induced angiogenesis.

Finally, in addition to active clinical and investigative efforts, I serve as Internal Medicine Residency Associate Program Director and Director of the Harrington Physician Scientist Pathway at CWRU, providing research mentorship at individual and programmatic levels to both post-doctoral and physician trainees.

External Appointments

Cardiology
University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center

Publications

  1. Notch signaling regulates arterial vasoreactivity through opposing functions of Jagged1 and Dll4 in the vessel wall. Basu, S., Barbur, I., Calderon, A., Banerjee, S. and Proweller, A.  Am. J. Physiol. Heart Circ. Physiol. 2018 Aug 31. doi:10.1152/ajpheart.00293.2018.  PMID: 30168730
  2. Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Nuclear Translocator in vascular smooth muscle cells is required for optimal peripheral perfusion recovery Borton, A.H., Neilson, L.E., Benson, B.L., Saunders, A., Alaiti, M.A., Huang, A.Y., Jain, M.K., Proweller, A. and Ramirez-Bergeron, D. J. Am. Heart Assoc. Jun 1;7(11). pii: e009205; doi: 10.1161/JAHA.118.009205. PMID: 29858371.
  3. Best practices for physician-scientist training programs: recommendations from the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine. Blanchard, M., Burton, C., Geraci, M.W., Madaio, M.P., Marsh, J.D., Proweller, A, Rockey, D.C., Salata, R.A., Williams, C.S., Williams, J., Tan, W., Zaidi, M.,and Todd, R.F. 2018 Am. J.  Med., May;131(5):578-584; doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2018.01.015.  PMID: 29410155.
  4. Autoregulatory Control of Smooth Muscle Myosin Light Chain Kinase Promoter by Notch Signaling. Basu S, Proweller A. J Biol Chem. 2016 Feb 5;291(6) Epub 2015 Dec 24.PMID:26703474
  5. Endothelial Kruppel-like factor 4 regulates angiogenesis and the Notch signaling pathway. Hale AT, Tian H, Anih E, Recio FO 3rd, Shatat MA, Johnson T, Liao X, Ramirez-Bergeron DL, Proweller A, Ishikawa M, Hamik A.J Biol Chem. 2014 Apr 25;289(17):12016-28. Epub 2014 Mar 5.PMID:24599951
  6. Regulation of pre-natal circle of Willis assembly by vascular smooth muscle Notch signaling. Yang K, Banerjee S, Proweller A.Dev Biol. 2013 Sep 1;381(1):107-20. doi: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2013.06.007. Epub 2013 Jun 14.PMID:23769842
  7. Notch transcriptional control of vascular smooth muscle regulatory gene expression and function. Basu S, Srinivasan DK, Yang K, Raina H, Banerjee S, Zhang R, Fisher SA, Proweller A.J Biol Chem. 2013 Apr 19;288(16):11191-202. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M112.442996. Epub 2013 Mar 12.PMID:23482558
  8. Inhibition of ARNT severely compromises endothelial cell viability and function in response to moderate hypoxia. Han Y, Yang K, Proweller A, Zhou G, Jain MK, Ramirez-Bergeron DL.Angiogenesis. 2012 Sep;15(3):409-20. doi: 10.1007/s10456-012-9269-x. Epub 2012 Apr 7.PMID:22484908
  9. Vascular smooth muscle Notch signals regulate endothelial cell sensitivity to angiogenic stimulation.Yang K, Proweller A.J Biol Chem. 2011 Apr 15;286(15):13741-53. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M110.181842. Epub 2011 Feb 23
  10. Myocardin regulates expression of contractile genes in smooth muscle cells and is required for closure of the ductus arteriosus in mice. Huang J, Cheng L, Li J, Chen M, Zhou D, Lu MM, Proweller A, Epstein JA, Parmacek MS.J Clin Invest. 2008 Feb;118(2):515-25. doi: 10.1172/JCI33304.

 

Education

Master of Science
Microbiology-Immunology
University of Rochester
1992
Doctor of Philosophy
Microbiology-Immunology
University of Rochester
1996
Doctor of Medicine
University of Rochester
1998