Anne Eichmann has studied the cellular and molecular mechanisms of barrier function between blood and lymphatic vessels. She would discuss about novel effectors of two critical barriers with opposing functions, the blood-brain barrier forming very tight junctions and the lymphatic capillary barrier uptaking extravasated fluid, macromolecules and immune cells.

Professor Ralf Adams directing Max SYanck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine at Muenster is one of the recognized investigators leading organotypic vascular morphogenesis. His group focuses on the vertebrate vascular system, in which blood vessels need to integrate precisely into different organ environments and retain SYasticity allowing them to adapt to changing requirements and signals. Work of his laboratory has provided fundamental insight into the molecular regulation of angiogenesis and, in particular, the functional roles of endothelial cells and pericytes. Their studies have also contributed to the elucidation of disease processes and have identified the genetic cause of several human syndromes. He will update organ-specific and functional specialization of vascular cells.

Professor Hyo-Soo Kim, M.D., Ph D, FAHA, graduated from Seoul National University in South Korea and is currently the President of The Seoul National University Hospital Biomedical Research Institute. He is a pioneer in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases as he has developed and conducted Cytokine-Stem Cell combination Therapy for myocardial infarction patients for the first time in the world. In recognition of his achievements of implementing translational research in the field of cardiovascular and stem cell biology, he has won numerous prestigious awards including the Asan Award in Medicine and the Wunsch Medical Award. His topic will cover new mechanisms of pathogenesis for diseases such as metabolic syndrome, fatty liver, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes by presenting his latest new findings on Restin-PCSK9-CAP1. In his presentation, he will discuss the development of a new treatment that can prevent Resistin-CAP1 signal from metabolic syndrome. Furthermore, he will also highlight how this treatment could prevent PCSK9 occurring from vessel inflammation.

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Angiogenesis, the process which generates new vessels from pre-existing vessels, is the key to maintain vascular homeostasis and an integral process for vascular remodeling. The first session of IVBM2020 conference features six exciting presentations on diverse aspects of angiogenesis and vascular remodeling. The first speaker of the session, Dr. Bautch will present her recent findings on the unexpected role of SMAD6 as a key mediator for shear stress responses in endothelial cells. Dr. Mochizuki will report his recent finding on the contribution of endoderm to endothelial cells during angiogenesis. Dr. Gerhardt will provide novel insights on how endothelial cells integrate physical and biochemical stimulation. Dr. Jin will present the newly identified link between ALK3 and vascular homeostasis. Dr. Siekmann will report an unanticipated selectivity of PI3K in endothelial cells. Last but not least, Dr. Itoh will report how TGF-β signaling modulates tumor angiogenesis. Collectively, these presentations highlight recent conceptual advances in the field of angiogenesis.

Specification and subsequent differentiation of endothelial lineage is the first step to generate functional vasculature. In this exciting session, we feature six speakers presenting recent advances in the field. First speaker of the session, Dr. Stainier, will present how genetic compensation and transcriptional regulation fine-tunes the emergence of endothelial lineage. Dr. Ruhrberg will report her recent findings on unexpected contribution of blood lineages to endothelial lineage. Dr. Simons will share his insights on endothelial to mesenchymal transition and how new techniques such as single cell transcriptomics and AI-assisted machine learning could help us to better understand this process. Dr. Hirschi will present her recent analyses on how cell fate-mediated cell cycle regulation in endothelial cells enables further differentiation of venous and arterial fates. Dr. Lee will share her recent findings on the role of YAP/TAZ in modulating sprouting angiogenesis. Lastly, Dr. Yoshimatsu will present the role of endothelial-derived TGF-β/Activin signals in tumor progression. Together, these presentations will shed light on the innate diversity and complexity of endothelial lineage.

The central nervous system (CNS) including brain and retina is highly vascularized. Various diseases in the CNS are associated with vascular abnormalities. Speakers in this symposium would elucidate pathophysiology of brain and retina diseases associated with dysregulated blood-brain and blood-retina barriers such as Alzheimer’s disease, hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage, and vision-threatening retinopathies and suggest heterogeneous mechanisms, biomarkers, and therapeutic strategies. Further endothelial plasticity involved in cerebral cavernous malformation (CCM) and intracranial calcification would be discussed.

Stem cells have drawn attention as an attractive cell source for tissue regeneration. Angiogenesis and neovascularization also play crucial roles in tissue repair. In this session, six speakers will present recent advances in the application of stem cells for cardiovascular tissue regeneration. Prof. Takakura has identified endothelial stem cells in the pre-existing blood vessels and showed critical roles of this cell population for the maintenance of vascularity. In this session, he is going to present development and aging of endothelial stem cells. Prof. Wu has been dedicated to making fundamental discoveries in cardiovascular medicine. He is going to present how human stem cells & genomics can be used for disease modeling. Prof. Fukuda is a pioneer in research of cardiac tissue regeneration and investigation of molecular mechanism of cardiovascular diseases. He is going to present therapy of cardiac diseases by transplantation of iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes. The last speaker, Prof. Yoon, has been studied to develop regenerative therapy for ischemic cardiovascular diseases using stem cells and tissue engineering. He will present therapeutic applications of human iPSC-derived vascular cells.

The Speakers in this symposium would emphasize the importance of diverse lymphatic systems such as meningeal lymphatics important for brain function, Schlemm’s canal maintaining ocular pressure, cyst-forming lymphatic malformation, and impaired uterine lymphatics associated with severe preeclampsia. Based on the discoveries identifying genetic causes and deciphering regulatory mechanisms by transcription factors and mechanotransduction, novel therapeutic approaches targeting lymphatics will be presented.

Various vascular diseases can be initiated by vascular barrier dysfunction including vascular leakage, coagulation, and inflammation. In this session, we have six speakers including four regular talks and two short talks, and will discuss about various cellular signaling and phenotypic changes affecting vascular barrier function. Dr. Lena Claesson-Welsh from Uppsala University will talk about the roles of C-Src and Yes Tyrosine Kinases in Regulation of Vascular Permeability. Our second speaker, Dr. Kenneth Walsh from University of Virginia will discuss about the significance of somatic mosaicism and clonal hematopoiesis in vascular diseases. Our third speaker, Dr. Hong Chen from Harvard Medical School, will give us a talk about the roles of endocytic adaptor Epsin in Endothelium. Finally, Dr. Young-Guen Kwon from Yonsei University will present about the therapeutic implication and action mechanism of endothelial dysfunction blocker. In addition, we will have two short talks selected from the abstracts. The first speaker of short talk, Dr. Koichi Nishiyama from Kumamoto University will talk about a novel function of vascular intraluminal pressure as an inhibitory signal of angiogenic directed EC migration. And Dr. Mauro Siragusa from Goethe University Frankfurt, the last speaker of short talk, will present about the role of tyrosine phosphorylation of eNOS Regulates Endothelial Function and Endothelial Redox Homeostasis

Speakers in this symposium would elucidate the molecular pathways involved in the crosstalk between vessels and nerves. The conventional view of neurovascular coupling is that neurons or astrocytes release vasodilatory factors that act directly on smooth muscle cells to increase arterial dilation and increase local blood flow. Now 1) ligand-dependent direct influence of brain vessels on neuronal behavior and 2) caveolae-dependent relaying role of endothelial cells will be presented as novel contributors to neurovascular coupling. Dysregulated neurovascular coupling may lead to subcortical vascular dementia, which lacks appropriate animal models. Here, its animal models would be introduced with neuropathologic and vascular characterization. In addition, a potential therapeutic target of arteriovenous (AV) malformations characterized by dilation of brain arteries will be introduced.

Understanding of cellular phenotypic changes provides essential information about cellular mechanisms of tissue homeostasis and the pathogenesis of many cardiovascular diseases. In this session, we have six speakers including four regular talks and two short talks, and will discuss about cellular phenotypic changes affecting cardiovascular diseases. Dr. Jun-ichi Abe from University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center will talk about stress-induced premature aging in atherosclerosis. Our second speaker, Dr. Bin Zhou from Chinese Academy of Sciences will discuss about genetic fate mapping of cardiomyocyte and endothelial cell proliferation in adult mouse. Our third speaker, Dr. Toyoaki Murohara from Nagoya University will give us a talk about the therapeutic angiogenesis by autologous adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells. Our fourth speaker, Dr. Jeong Hun Kim from Seoul National University will present about the in vivo genome editing for angiogenesis-related retinopathy. Finally, Dr. Jan Kitajewski from University of Illinois at Chicago will give us a talk about therapeutic targeting of tumor angiogenesis using endothelial cell fate mechanisms. In addition, we will have a short talk selected from the abstracts. The speaker of short talk, Dr. Riikka Kivelä from University of Helsinki will present about the reprogramming of the phenotypes of endothelial cells and EndMT by cardiovascular disease risk factors.