Mack Research Lab

The Mack Lab

Endothelial cells imaged for cell junctions (in green) and an inflammatory marker (in purple).
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About Us

The Mack Lab studies the mechanisms of endothelial mechanotransduction in the context of vascular health and disease. We study how blood flow forces influence vascular response- both at the single cell and tissue level. We are interested in the heterogeneity of cellular response within a "homogeneous" monolayer of cells. To visualize the heterogeneity of response, we utilize high resolution live cell imaging and atomic force microscopy to quantify the dynamics of Ca2+ oscillations, measure flow induced plasma membrane properties and determine the localization of proteins at the subcellular level. In addition, we use molecular biology techniques to ascertain features of endothelial function such as cell polarity, protein distribution and gene expression in response to various stimuli.

Selected Publications

  1. Soon-Gook Hong, Julianne W. Ashby, John P. Kennelly, Meigan Wu, Michelle Steel, Eesha Chattopadhyay, Rob Foreman, Peter Tontonoz, Elizabeth J. Tarling, Patric Turowski, Marcus Gallagher-Jones and Julia J. Mack. (2024). Mechanosensitive Membrane Domains Regulate Calcium Entry in Arterial Endothelial Cells to Protect Against Inflammation. The Journal of Clinical Investigation, 134(13):e175057. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI175057 (IF: 15.9)    
  2. Soon-Gook Hong, John P. Kennelly, Kevin J. Williams, Steven J. Bensinger and Julia J. Mack. (2024). Flow-mediated Modulation of the Endothelial Cell Lipidome. Frontiers in Physiology, 50-2024;  doi: 10.3389/fphys.2024.1431847. (IF: 4.134)
  3. Julianne W. Ashby, Julia J. Mack. (2021). Endothelial Control of Cerebral Blood Flow. The American Journal of Pathology, 191 (11); doi.org/10.1016/j.ajpath.2021.02.023. (IF: 5.4)