Dr. Gao's Laboratory
Physical activity is fundamental for the maintenance of human health. Regular exercise reduces cardiovascular risk and improves disease prognosis. Our laboratory aims to elucidate a novel mechanism underpinning exercise-evoked cardiovascular benefits involved in nuclear factor-erythroid factor 2-related factor 2 and extracellular vesicles in skeletal muscle.
We hypothesize that, during exercise, contracting muscle generates a mass of reactive oxygen species, which in turn activate Nrf2 to upregulate a large group of antioxidant enzymes and other cytoprotective proteins. These proteins are packaged into EVs and transported to the remote tissues/organs where antioxidant defenses are enhanced and protective processes occur.
Lab Personnel
Graduate Research Assistant
Lab Alumni
Research Technologist I
Research Intern
Research Intern (summer 2022)
Research Intern (summer 2022)
- Cardiovascular physiology and pathophysiology: sympathetic activity, blood pressure regulation, hypertension, chronic heart failure, cardiac ischemia/reperfusion.
- Exercise beneficial influence on blood vessel, heart, and skeletal muscle: post-exercise hypotension, cardiac protection, muscle contractility, sarcopenia amelioration.
- Implication and significance of Nrf2 and extracellular vesicles (EVs) in exercise, skeletal muscle, cardiovascular function: Nrf2-maintained cellular redox homeostasis and antioxidant defenses; EV-mediated protein/miRNA transfer from skeletal muscle to blood vessel/heart/brainstem during exercise.
- Rodent animal models of cardiovascular diseases (Cardiac I/R, coronary artery ligation, hypertension);
- Skeletal muscle-specific transgenic mouse models (GPF reporter, Nrf2 KO/OE).
- Small animal surgeries for survival and terminal experiments (carotid and femoral arterial cannulation, telemetry unit implantation).
- Cardiovascular measurement in conscious and anesthesia conditions (BP, HR, ECG, RSNA, LVEDP).
- Biochemistry analyses of protein and nucleic acid (Western blot, ELISA, PCR, RT-PCR, quantitative PCR).
- Immunofluorescence staining and confocal microscopy (Leica TCS SPE-II).
- Isolation and analyses of extracellular vesicles from tissue, plasma, cells, and culture medium (Beckman Optima XPN Ultracentrifuge, ZetaView nanoparticle tracking analyzer).
- DHHS/NIH/NHLBI (R01HL160820) | January 2022 - December 2025 | Skeletal Muscle Nrf2: Exercise-Induced Cardiovascular Protection | $2,070,556
- New Frontiers in Medical Research Fund | July 2019 - June 2021 | Chronic Exercise-Induced Skeletal Muscle Functional and Proteomic Adaptation: Role of Nrf2/Keap1 | University of Nebraska Medical Center, College of Medicine; Frances E. Lageschulte and Evelyn B. Weese | $55,000
- DHHS/NIH/NHLBI (R01HL153176) (PI-Dr. Irving Zucker) | April 2021 - March 2025 | Nrf2 regulation of oxidative stress in heart failure and extra vesicular communication | Role: Co-Investigator for 3.00 Calendar Months
- DHHS/NIH/NHLBI (R01HL126796) (PI-Dr. Irving Zucker) | January 2020 - December 2023 | Cardiac afferents and renal function in heart failure | Role: Co-Investigator for 1.80 Calendar Months
Collaborators
Director, Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics Core Facility
Department of Genetics, Cell Biology & Anatomy, UNMC
Department of Anesthesiology, UNMC
Theodore F. Hubbard Professor of Cardiovascular Research
Dept. of Cellular & Integrative Physiology, UNMC
