Osama Harraz

Check out this review on brain 🧠capillary ion channels in health and disease… a topic that has evolved (and continues to grow) dramatically over the past decade.🗓️📅

Please join us on February 24th for our next installment of the graduate students' CMB seminar! There will be excellent talks and discussions!! @devdoot.bsky.social @uvmcmb.bsky.social @msymeonides.bsky.social @karenglasslab.bsky.social @wargolab.bsky.social @osamaharraz.bsky.social

PIP2 corrects an endothelial Piezo1 channelopathy | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

🧠🆕Review article: "Brain Capillary Ion Channels: Physiology and Channelopathies."

Osama F. Harraz and Ahmed M. Hashad
https://ow.ly/MUCH50YbM0p.
#BrainCapillaries #CerebralBloodFlow

📣 #CallForPapers 📣 on the topic of the inaugural in-person Electrophysiology & Ion Channel (EpIC) meeting, “Emerging Research on Ion Channels in Health & Disease” – w/ Guest Editors Jelena Baranovic, @osamaharraz.bsky.social, Conor McClenaghan, & Lejla Zubcevic 👉 rupress.org/JGP/pages/ca...

📣 #CallForPapers 📣 Submit your research on the topic of the inaugural in-person Electrophysiology & Ion Channel (EpIC) meeting, “Emerging Research on #IonChannels in Health & Disease” – w/ Guest Editors Jelena Baranovic, Osama Harraz, Conor McClenaghan & Lejla Zubcevic 👉 rupress.org/JGP/pages/ca...

Leukocyte stalling in 🐭Retinal microvasculature
2PM

In 20 s, "~7% tracked leukocytes stalled for at least one time along their path", up to 9 stalls

87% stalls occur at vessel junctions, where 71% occupied with #Pericyte

⏫RBC flow irregularity

#JCBFM 2025
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

😖

My Name is Doddie Foundation Catalyst Awards 2026 are now open. Funding bold early stage MND research ideas with up to £100k to generate data and open new treatment pathways.

www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/funding/my-n...

This work wouldn't have been possible without the dedication of all authors and the support from The NIH, @chanzuckerberg.bsky.social, @ahajournals.bsky.social, @uvmlarnermed.bsky.social, @uvmvermont.bsky.social, and the Bloomfield Professorship.

💡GPCR signaling amplifies Piezo1 mechanotransduction, potentially representing a general mechanism beyond the brain endothelium.
💡PIP₂ normalizes overactive Piezo1 in genetic and disease contexts, improving endothelial function and highlighting new therapeutic strategies.

Led by a talented former postdoc, Ahmed Hashad, with key contributions from Mohammad Elmahdy, Xin Rui Lim and Natalia Mathieu, our study uncovers new biology at the intersection of mechanotransduction, GPCR signaling, and regulation of ion channels.

🎉 New Publication in @pnas.org

Excited to share our lab’s latest research article: PIP₂ Corrects an Endothelial Piezo1 Channelopathy
pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1... (Open Access)

Key phospholipid points to potential treatment for vascular dementia A possible new treatment for impaired brain blood flow and related dementias is on the horizon. Research by scientists at the University of Vermont Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine provides novel insights into the mechanisms that regulate brain blood flow and highlights a potential therapeutic strategy to correct vascular dysfunction.

Restoring levels of the phospholipid PIP₂ may help normalize brain blood flow and reduce symptoms in vascular dementia by regulating the activity of the Piezo1 protein.

When a larval zebrafish twitches its tail, the vascular endothelium lights up with a calcium signal, mediated by Piezo1. We used to think mechanosensing in endothelial cells was about sensing blood flow, but at least in this case it's about sensing body motion.

Most insects slow down in bitter cold. Not snow flies. - UW Medicine | Newsroom

Grateful to @pewtrusts.org for funding our snow fly work, in collaboration with Sebastian Brauchi at Universidad Austral de Chile.

We are now looking for post-docs to work on the biophysical mechanisms that allow snow fly neurons and muscles to function below zero.

newsroom.uw.edu/news-release...

This work couldn't be possible without funding 💵from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) to the Bracko and Harraz labs.
@uvmlarnermed.bsky.social @uvmvermont.bsky.social

💊Our findings suggest Piezo1 (likely non-vascular Piezo1) as a therapeutic target to address early cerebrovascular dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease.

🙏Grateful to all trainees who made this possible (Zeynab Tabrizi, @xinruilimemily1.bsky.social, Supriya Chakraborty).

💡 Key highlights:
- Using in vivo imaging, we demonstrate impaired brain capillary blood flow and neurovascular coupling in an Alzheimer’s mouse model.
- Systemic activation of the mechanosensor Piezo1 improved cerebral blood flow in Alzheimer’s disease mice.

🧵Excited to share our work with the Bracko @bloodflowlab.bsky.social lab published in Alzheimer's & Dementia @alzassociation.bsky.social :

Systemic Piezo1 activation improves cerebrovascular function in Alzheimer’s disease

🔗https://alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/alz.71016

#UVMLarnerMed research publication alert! #Brainresearch by authors Osama Harraz, Ph.D., and Ahmed Hashad, Ph.D., Department of Pharmacology, Larner College of Medicine, Vermont Center for Cardiovascular and Brain Health.
@uvmvermont.bsky.social @apspublications.bsky.social

Excited to share the latest from our lab (final version, open access):

Brain Capillary Ion Channels: Physiology and Channelopathies

Physiology | @apspublications.bsky.social

journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10....

@uvmlarnermed.bsky.social

Cofilin Inhibition Ameliorates PIEZO2 and AMPA Dysfunction in a Mouse Model of Angelman Syndrome Angelman syndrome (AS) is a neurogenetic disorder characterized by motor coordination and cognitive deficits. In AS, hippocampal neurons show reduced filamentous (F-)actin, a decrease we also reported...

Our new Journal of Neuroscience paper "Cofilin Inhibition Ameliorates PIEZO2 and AMPA Dysfunction in a Mouse Model of Angelman Syndrome (AS)” is out: www.jneurosci.org/content/45/4... 1/6

The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UTHealth Houston has an open search for a tenure-track faculty position. If you are ready (or know someone that is) to start looking for positions, this will be a great opportunity to join the Texas Medical Center. See flyer below. 1/2

NEW STUDY! Building on pioneering work by Dr. Alison Goate, an international team of researchers, led by #IcahnMountSinai's Anne Schaefer, ID'd distinct population of neuroprotective #Microglia that may point to new therapeutic approach for #Alzheimers. @nature.com 👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This is sad, to say the least...

I’m extremely honored to be a recipient of the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award!

Congrats to the winners! Its notable that Omar Yaghi was a refugee. Refugees and immigrants once again making American science great!

Last week at the Dean’s Celebration of Excellence in Research, the annual #UVMLarnerMed Research Rally showcased inspiring research by faculty scientists. Learn more about #larnerresearch at go.uvm.edu/lcomresearch #medicalresearch #research
@uvmvermont.bsky.social
@osamaharraz.bsky.social

Happy for you, my friend!