Mark Blaser, PhD

Thank you Hao!

Thanks to all our huge collaborative team, including Francesca Bartoli-Leonard, Florian Schlotter, Hideyuki Higashi, Shiori Kuraoka, Taku Kasai, Mandy Turner, Tan Pham, Katelyn Perez, Simon Robson, Simon Body, Danny Muehlschlegel, Masanori Aikawa, Sasha Singh, & Elena Aikawa!

Using network medicine approaches, we ID’d profiles of sex-specific pathogenic protein accumulation, mapped ATP catabolism to ♂ & extracellular matricrine signaling to ♀, & validated sex-specific targets.

Via MS plasma proteomics of ♂ & ♀ with #AS, we present a circulating proteome with sex-specific enrichment of inflammation vs. metalloendopeptidase activity, & new sex-stratified analysis of our disease stage-specific #AS tissue MS (www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/...) ID’d ~400 dimorphic proteins.

Despite #AS being ~3x more prevalent in ♂, ♀ have ↓ timely intervention, ↑ symptoms, ↓ function, & ↑ mortality during valve replacement surgery. Seminal histo studies (www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/...) found that ♀ have ↑ valvular fibrosis... but why??

Excited to have this work from Casey Clift & myself out in #ATVB!

We leverage mass spectrometry proteomics of human plasma & aortic valve tissues to assess potential drivers of sexual dimorphism in #AS aortic valve stenosis.

Mini-explainer thread below!

www.ahajournals.org/eprint/MF7VI...

Sexual Dimorphism of Plasma and Tissue Proteomes in Human Calcific Aortic Valve Stenosis Pathogenesis | Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology BACKGROUND: Calcific aortic valve stenosis is a global clinical burden, impacting around 2% of the population over 65 years of age. No pharmacotherapeutics exist, with surgical repair and transcathete...

Member publication alert:

Sexual Dimorphism of Plasma and Tissue Proteomes in Human Calcific Aortic Valve Stenosis Pathogenesis

www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/...

ISACB is searching for candidates to serve as new members of our Committees and Executive Council!

We welcome applications from members at all career stages who wish to contribute to the growth of our society.

Please apply now via: forms.gle/2E1eyPznNJXn...

Save-the-Date for #ISACB2026 in #Miami!

We are excited to announce that the next Biennial @appliedcvb.bsky.social ISACB meeting will be held in beautiful #Miami from November 11-14, 2026.

Be sure to save the date in your calendar! More details coming soon.

oh the irony...

You haven’t really written an academic paper until you’ve cut the paragraph you built the entire paper around.

Multiomic Landscape of Extracellular Vesicles in Human Carotid Atherosclerotic Plaque Reveals Endothelial Communication Networks | Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology BACKGROUND: Carotid atherosclerosis is orchestrated by cell-cell communication that drives progression along a clinical continuum (asymptomatic to symptomatic). Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are cell-d...

Member publication alert:

Multiomic Landscape of Extracellular Vesicles in Human Carotid Atherosclerotic Plaque Reveals Endothelial Communication Networks

www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/...

Multiomic Landscape of Extracellular Vesicles in Human Carotid Atherosclerotic Plaque Reveals Endothelial Communication Networks | Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology BACKGROUND: Carotid atherosclerosis is orchestrated by cell-cell communication that drives progression along a clinical continuum (asymptomatic to symptomatic). Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are cell-d...

How does EV–vascular cell communication drive dynamic changes in atherosclerotic plaques?

www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/...

Long-weekend vibes!

Take Action Today on CHFRA

Join @ACHA_Heart and millions of patients with #CHD in asking Congress to fund the Congenital Heart Futures Reauthorization Act of 2024. This legislation is vital to fund CHD research👇

#ACHD #ACCACPC #cardiosky #medsky

www.achaheart.org/get-involved...

Thanks for the kind words @nautilus.bio!

I had a fantastic time at my first @us-hupo.org #USHUPO2025, sharing our work on multi-omics of aortic valve stenosis!

Cassandra Clift, postdoc in Elena Aikawa's lab, presents her poster full of exciting research on proteomics as it applies to cardiovascular biomaterials at #USHUPO2025

Dr. Taku Kasai of @toleafgirl.bsky.social ‘s Proteomics group shares new in-source CID HCD fragmentation technologies for ADPr in human primary macrophages with fellow proteomics enthusiasts at @us-hupo.bsky.social #USHUPO2025

We're so excited to share our science at #USHUPO2025! Tomorrow, @markcblaser.bsky.social and Taku Kasai will represent CICS at the Pre-clinical Proteomics and Lightning Talk 1/Poster session 1 events!

This has been a long-time labor of love as we explored how to acquire, process, & analyze high spatiotemporal resolution blood velocity field maps in mice. Thanks to the incredible team who pushed this past the finish line: Mingyi Tang, Yu-Qing Zhou, David Steinman, & Craig Simmons!

Blood forces are key drivers of cardiovascular disease, but mechanisms are difficult to study in humans. We're excited to share an ultrasound image velocimetry-based approach to enable non-invasive quantification of complex hemodynamics in small animal models: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

not paying indirect costs for research is like only paying the players in the Super Bowl.

can't have a Super Bowl without coaches, referees, security, janitors, announcers, stadium staff, and a stadium - and you can't have research without supporting people and facilities

Don Draper proposing Seal the Seal in a Mountain Dew ad.

Let me give a concrete example of the importance of applications with high risk-high reward as well as the role of NIH staff in taking risks.

Decades ago, a physical chemist proposed ideas about doing mass spectrometry on proteins (when this was deemed probably impossible).

1/n

Like every MBTA commuter, I complain a lot. But the improvements made over the last two years in the subways under Phil Eng have been remarkable.

PhD parents: the pros and cons of having a child during your doctorate Early-career researchers describe how they juggled workloads, emotions and finances after having children.

Early-career researchers describe to Nature Careers how they juggled workloads, emotions and finances after having children. #AcademicSky 🧪

Heads-up to all my Toronto peeps!

Using mass spectrometry-based plasma & tissue proteomics, we identify specific fibrotic matrix constituents and metabolism pathways unique to #AS pathogenesis in female patients.

More soon!

Sexual Dimorphism of Plasma and Tissue Proteomes in Human Calcific Aortic Valve Stenosis Pathogenesis BACKGROUND: Calcific aortic valve stenosis (CAVS) is a global clinical burden, impacting around 2% of the population over 65 years of age. No pharmacotherapeutics exist, with surgical repair and trans...

There are glaring sex disparities in the pathology & tx of aortic stenosis #AS. Here's a sneak peak at work led by Dr. Casey Clift & I, where we begin to unravel sexually-dimorphic molecular fingerprints associated with fibrocalcific disease progression:

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...