Page 4 - SFRBM dot

Radical View

Sruti Shiva, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Vascular Medicine Institute, Pharmacology and Chemical Biology,

Co-director Center for Metabolism and Mitochondrial Medicine, University of Pittsburgh

DOT: Tell us about your background formed Center for Metabolism and Mitochondrial Medicine, which has

and current passion in your been an exciting endeavor for me.

professional life?
DOT: Briely describe your research interest and what is the most

I was born and raised in Huntsville, notable research achievement from your lab?

Alabama. Huntsville had a thriving
I’m broadly interested in understanding the mechanisms by which the
space program and my parents were
mitochondria serves as a cellular hub of redox signaling to maintain
both computer scientists and involved
Sruti cardiovascular homeostasis and contribute to disease pathogenesis.
with NASA. I think all of this contributed

In my graduate and postdoctoral work I focused on how reactive
SHIVA to my curiosity and love of science at
nitrogen species regulated mitochondrial function in the context of
an early age. I really wanted to be an
physiological hypoxia and ischemia/reperfusion. My lab still actively
astronaut when I was young, but as I
works on understanding how nitrite mediates cardioprotection
grew up I became more interested
by modulating mitochondrial function and we have a number of

in biological sciences, particularly in how the human body works. I
publications in this regard. However, I’ve recently expanded my
obtained my undergraduate degree in Biomedical Sciences at the
interests to examine mitochondrial biology in human platelets. We
University of South Alabama in Mobile.
recently validated methodology for the measurement of bioenergetics

After completing college, I took a year off and worked in Victor Darley- in platelets from a simple blood draw. We are using this methodology

Usmar’s lab at the University of Alabama at Birmingham where I
to determine how platelet mitochondrial function is altered in a number

became fascinated by the process of research and the really enjoyed of human disease cohorts, including patients with sickle cell disease,

the satisfaction of performing experiments with my own hands. I cardiac arrhythmias, scleroderma and asthma to name a few. I think

decided to join graduate school and obtained my PhD in Victor’s lab this will be important on a basic science level in determining how

investigating the mechanisms by which nitric oxide regulates liver mitochondria contribute to pathogenesis but I also hope these studies

mitochondrial function in physiology. I did a postdoctoral fellowship
will pave the way to potentially utilize platelet mitochondrial function

in Mark Gladwin’s lab at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda. as a biomarker for disease diagnosis and therapeutic eficacy.

This was an exciting time as Mark (along with his collaborators) was
DOT: Who has been your greatest teacher?
just discovering important reactions of nitrite with heme globins and

the implications of these reactions for cardiovascular physiology. It’s hard to pick just one person! Victor Darley-Usmar and Mark Gladwin

were and continue to be outstanding mentors to me. Victor engrained in
It was fun to be part of a brand new ield and to be at the forefront

of investigating how nitrite could mediate physiological responses me the fundamental principles of conducting rigorous basic research and

through the mitochondrion. I joined the University of Pittsburgh as an propagated my interest in bioenergetics. Mark taught me the basics of

Assistant Professor in 2008 and built a lab focused on understanding translational research and how to pay attention to details while keeping

the interplay between mitochondrial function and redox signaling in the big picture in mind. Despite their different approaches, they both

the cardiovascular system. I also serve as Co-Director of a newly
instilled in me an appreciation for redox based mechanisms. They both

continued on next page

SfRBM Newsletter // September 2016 // Radical View

4 IN THIS ISSUE V I S I T U S O N L I N E : W W W . S F R B M . O R G