Michael S. Parmacek

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Frank Wister Thomas Professor of Medicine
Member, Cardiac Service Line Executive Committee, University of Pennsylvania Health System
Member, Graduate Group in Cell Biology and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania Muscle Institute, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Member, University of Pennsylvania Strategic Planning Committee for Cardiac Clinical Services, University of Pennsylvania Health System
Member, Strategic Planning CV Biology Working Group I Committee, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Member, Academic Review Committee, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Member, Institute for Medicine and Engineering, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and School of Engineering and Applied Science
Member, Task Force on Incentivizing Entrepreneurialism, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Founding Director, University of Pennsylvania Cardiovascular Institute, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Member, Committee of Center and Institute Directors, Perelman School of Medicine University of Pennsylvania
Member, Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Programs, Perelman School of Medicine University of Pennsylvania
Member, Basic Science Chairs, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Member, Board of Directors, Clinical Practices of the University of Pennsylvania
Member, Finance Committee, Clinical Practices of the University of Pennsylvania
CHIBE-Roybal Internal and Exteral Advisory Boards, University of Pennsylvania
Chair, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Health System
Member, Executive Committee, Clinical Practices of the University of Pennsylvania
Member, Department of Surgery Chair Search Committee, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Chair, Search Committee for Chair of Department of Emergency Medicine , University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Chair, CPUP Finance Committee, Penn Medicine
Department: Medicine
Graduate Group Affiliations

Contact information
6th Floor, South Pavilion
Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Office: 215-662-2402
Fax: 215-349-8232
Education:
B.S. (Biology/Psychology)
Tufts University, 1977.
M.D.
Northwestern University Medical School, 1981.
Post-Graduate Training
Intern in Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, 1981-1982.
Resident in Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, 1982-1984.
Clinical / Research Fellowship, Cardiovascular Disease, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, IL, 1984-1987.
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 1987-1989.
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Description of Research Expertise

Chair, Department of Medicine
Director, Cardiovascular Institute

Research Interests
Transcriptional programs that regulate cardiovascular development

Key Words: smooth muscle cell, cardiac myocyte, GATA, myocardin, transcription, notch

Description of Research
The Parmacek laboratory examines the molecular and genetic programs that regulate heart and vascular development with particular focus on defining the molecular programs regulating development, differentiation and survival of vascular smooth muscle cells and cardiac myocytes. The Parmacek laboratory utilizes a variety of experimental methodologies including the generation and characterization of genetically-engineered mouse and embryonic stem (ES) cell models to elucidate the function(s) of critical transcription factors and transcriptional co-activators in the cardiovascular system. The Parmacek laboratory cloned and/or characterized the function of the GATA-4/5/6 subfamily of cardiovascular transcription factors and the Myocardin/MKL-1/MKL-2 family of transcriptional coactivators. These data provided unanticipated insights into how cells populating the cardiovascular system transduce signals regulating development and response to hemodynamic stress. While fundamentally important at a basic level, this research has provided insights into the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases including atherosclerosis, aortic aneurysm and dissection, heart failure and congenital heart disease.

Rotation Projects for 2012-13
1. Characterization of the function of MKL2/MRTF-B in the heart and vasculature
2. Examine the molecular basis of myocardin function in the heart and in visceral and vascular smooth muscle cells
3. Characterization of mice harboring a conditional mutation in the lineage-restricted transcription factors GATA-6
4. Examine the role of Notch signaling and Notch-regulated genes during angiogenesis and in the vasculature

Lab personnel:
Jian Li, MD - Senior Research Scientist
John Huang MD, PhD - Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Xiaohong Zhu - Senior Research Technician

Description of Itmat Expertise

The Parmacek laboratory examines the molecular mechanisms underlying cardiovascular development with particular focus on elucidating the transcriptional programs controlling differentiation and phenotypic modulation of muscle cell lineages.

Selected Publications

Huang J, Elicker J, Bowens N, Liu X, Cheng L, Cappola TP, Zhu X, Parmacek MS: Myocardin regulates BMP10 expression and is required for heart development. The Journal of Clinical Investigation 122(10): 3678-91, Oct 2012.

Li J, Bowens N, Cheng L, Zhu X, Chen M, Hannenhalli S, Cappola TP, Parmacek MS: Myocardin-like protein 2 regulates TGFβ signaling in embryonic stem cells and the developing vasculature. Development (Cambridge, England) 139(19): 3531-42, Oct 2012.

Rong L, Liu J, Qi Y, Graham AM, Parmacek MS, Li S: GATA-6 promotes cell survival by up-regulating BMP-2 expression during embryonic stem cell differentiation. Molecular Biology of the Cell 23(18): 3754-63, Sep 2012.

Rader DJ, Parmacek MS: Secreted miRNAs suppress atherogenesis. Nature Cell Biology 14(3): 233-5, Feb 29 2012.

Shen D, Li J, Lepore JJ, Anderson TJ, Sinha S, Lin AY, Cheng L, Cohen ED, Roberts JD Jr, Dedhar S, Parmacek MS, Gerszten RE: Aortic aneurysm generation in mice with targeted deletion of integrin-linked kinase in vascular smooth muscle cells. Circulation Research 109(6): 616-28, Sep 2011.

Huang J, Lu MM, Cheng L, Li J, Zhu X, Stout A, Chen M, Li J, Parmacek MS: Myocardin is required for cardiomyocyte survival and maintenance of heart function. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA(106), 18734-18739, 2009.

Parmacek MS, Epstein JA: Cardiomyocyte Renewal. N Engl J Med 2(361): 86-8, July 2009.

Zhang Z, Goss AM, Cohen ED, Kadzik R, Lepore JJ, Muthukumaraswamy K, Yang J, DeMayo F, Whitsett JA, Parmacek MS, Morrisey EE: A Gata6-Wnt pathway required for epithelial stem cell development and airway regeneration. Nature Genetics 40(7): 862-70, July 2008.

Huang J, Cheng L, Li J, Chen M, Zhou D, Lu MM, Proweller A, Epstein JA, Parmacek MS: Myocardin regulates smooth muscle cell contractile genes required for closure of the ductus arteriosus. J Clin Invest 118(2): 515-25, Feb 2008.

Proweller A, Wright AC, Horng D, Cheng L, Lu MM, Lepore JJ, Pear WS, Parmacek MS: Notch signaling in vascular smooth muscle cells is required to pattern the cerebral vasculature. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104(41): 16275-80, Oct 2007.

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Last updated: 09/07/2022
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