ACTSI Investigator Dr. W. Robert Taylor in the News

W. Robert Taylor, MD, PhD, ACTSI investigator, director, Division of Cardiology, Marcus Chair in Vascular Medicine and professor of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering at Emory University. His laboratory focuses on understanding the role of inflammation in vascular disease and repair. He has a long-standing interested in the interplay between cardiovascular biomechanics and oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and aneurysm formation. His laboratory also developed additional efforts in the area of cell-based therapies for vascular repair. His favorite free time activity is enjoying time with his five children and two grandchildren, all of whom fortunately still reside in the Atlanta area.

Georgia Tech IBB | Blood Vessel Research Earns $8.9M NIH Grant
August 30, 2015

Lab Land | Regenerative Engineering & Medicine highlights
August 14, 2015

Lab Land | Plaque erosion: heart attacks triggered by a whimper, not a bang
November 3, 2014

Lab Land | A spoonful of sugar helps infection detection
April 7, 2014

United Press International | New encapsulation stem cell technique could be used to treat damaged hearts
October 25, 2013

Science Daily | Packaging stem cells in capsules for heart therapy
October 11, 2013

Emory News Center | Packaging stem cells in capsules for heart therapy
October 10, 2013

Health Sciences Update | New directions in regenerative medicine
February 26, 2013

Publications:
Is Increased Arterial Stiffness a Cause or Consequence of Atherosclerosis?, Atheroslerosis,  2016 June

“Alginate microencapsulation of human mesenchymal stem cells as a strategy to enhance paracrine-mediated vascular recovery after hindlimb ischaemia.” J Tissue Eng Regen Med. 2016 Mar;10(3):222-32.

Smooth Muscle-targeted Overexpression of Peroxisome Proliferator Activated Receptor-γ Disrupts Vascular Wall Structure and Function, PLoS One, 2015 Oct 9

“Nox4-dependent activation of cofilin mediates VSMC reorientation in response to cyclic stretching.” Free Radic Biol Med. 2015 Aug;85:288-94.

“PET Imaging of Bacterial Infections with Fluorine-18-Labeled Maltohexaose.” Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2014 Dec 15;53(51):14096-101.

“Dysregulated B Cell Expression of RANKL and OPG Correlates with Loss of Bone Mineral Density in HIV Infection.” PLoS Pathog. 2014 Nov 13;10(10):e1004497.

Biomechanics and Inflammation in Atherosclerotic Plaque Erosion and Plaque Rupture: Implications for Cardiovascular Events in Women, PLoS One, 2014 Nov 3

“Semi-degradable poly(beta-amino ester) networks with temporally controlled enhancement of mechanical properties.” ACTA Biomater. 2014 Aug;10(8):3475-3483.

Over-expression of Catalase in Myeloid Cells Confers Acute Protection following Myocardial Infarction, International Journal of molecular sciences, 2014 May 21

Circadian Variation in Vascular Function and Regenerative Capacity in Healthy Humans, Journal of the American Heart Association, 2014 May 15

Hydrogen Peroxide Regulates Osteopontin Expression through Activation of Transcriptional and Translational pathways. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2014 Jan 3

Taylor was inducted into the American Clinical and Climatological Association.

Taylor, et al. received funding for a competitive NIH P01 renewal for “Diverse Roles of Reactive Oxygen Species and Inflammation in Vascular Disease.”

Taylor is multi principal investigator on a NIH R01 grant entitled, "18F Conjugated maltodextrins for the detection of medical device infections."

Taylor was the recipient of a 2014 Pediatric Research Center Pilot Grant from the Center for Cardiovascular Biology (CCB) for “Impaired collateral vessel formation in an animal model of sickle cell disease”

Taylor is co-recipient of a 2014-2015 Georgia Partners in Regenerative Medicine Seed Grant for a project entitled, “Preclinical Evaluation of Cellular Encapsulation in a Porcine Model of Critical Limb Ischemia.” The award is shared between Emory and the University of Georgia.

Taylor is the principal investigator on a funded T32 training grant for the Division of Cardiology.

Researchers in Emory University School of Medicine’s regenerative medicine program are working to develop new therapies for cardiovascular disease. Taylor, Rebecca Levit, MD, and Young-sup Yoon, MD, PhD discuss the program in this short video. “We’re trying to go beyond traditional drug therapies, and novel approaches where we use the body’s own repair system to repair itself,” said Dr. Taylor. “[We’re trying to] harness the stem cells that are in your body – the ones that are normally there in your bone marrow and in your heart tissue and in your fat tissue – take those cells and help your body to repair itself… The next horizon in therapy for cardiovascular disease is really to repair and replace the disease tissues, and that’s the goal of regenerative medicine.”