Ashish K Sharma, MD, PhD : Research

Dr. Sharma directs two research laboratories that investigate the molecular mechanisms of aortic aneurysm pathogenesis and pathophysiology of post-lung transplant injury. Current projects are focused on how dying/apoptotic cells are eaten up by endothelial cells and macrophages, and if the dysregulation of this process (efferocytosis) causes vascular and pulmonary inflammation and injury. His laboratories also focus on mechanistic studies to decipher the crosstalk between parenchymal cells such as endothelial and smooth muscle cells with immune cells like macrophages and neutrophils, involving pannexin and TRPV4 ion channels as well as excess iron-mediated cell death (ferroptosis), in the pathophysiology of aortic aneurysms and lung ischemia-reperfusion injury. His research interests also include therapeutic application of mesenchymal stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles in attenuating vascular and pulmonary disease processes. His laboratory is nationally renowned in scientific research of aortic aneurysm and lung transplant injury. Research methodologies/techniques used in his laboratories involve investigation of human samples and murine experimental models entailing surgical models, flow cytometry, RNA/protein analysis, spatial transcriptomics and scRNA sequencing etc.