Diana Ramirez, PhD
Phone: 216-368-2036
Fax: 216-368-0556
E-mail: diana.ramirez@case.edu
Research Summary:
Dr. Ramirez-Bergeron is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Case Cardiovascular Research Institute at Case Western Reserve University. Her main research interest is to understand how adaptive responses to changes in oxygen tension affect blood cells and vessels. One aspect of her laboratory is to dissect the specific biological and molecular roles of Hypoxia Inducible Factor (HIF) transcriptional complex during the emergence, growth, differentiation and maturation of blood vessels during normal development and pathological vascular injuries. A second interest in Dr. Ramirez-Bergeron’s laboratory is to examine how hypoxic responses influence the generation of cardiovascular stem/progenitor cells and their differentiation into various cardiovascular cell lineages. These studies will provide a conceptual framework for understanding the pathogenesis of human hypoxic conditions and provide new directions for the development of novel therapeutic applications targeting vascular growth processes critical for tissue regeneration and repair.
Original Publications: (last 5 years)
Ramírez Bergeron DL, Simon MC. Hypoxia inducible factor and the development of stem cells of the cardiovascular system. Stem Cells 2001; 4, 279-286.
Dahl R*, Ramírez Bergeron DL*, Rao S., Simon, MC. SpiB can substitute for PU.1 in myelopoiesis but not lymphopoiesis. EMBO 2002; 21, 2220-2230. *equal contribution.
Simon MC, Ramírez-Bergeron, D, Mack F, Hu CJ, Pan Y, and Mansfield K. Hypoxia, HIFs, and cardiovascular development. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 2002; 67, 127-132.
Ramírez-Bergeron, DL, Runge A, Cowden Dahl, K, Fehling H-J, Keller, G, and Simon, MC. Hypoxia affects mesoderm and enhances hemangioblast specification during early development. Development 2004; 131, 4623-4634.
Ramírez-Bergeron, DL, Runge A, Adelman, D, Gohil, M, and Simon, MC. HIF-dependent hematopoietic factors regulate the development of the embryonic vasculature. Developmental Cell 2006; 11, 81-92.
