Welcome to Dr. Han’s lab, part of the Vascular Biology Section/Department of Medicine,Whitaker Cardiovascular Research Institute, and Sargent College at Boston University. We study the molecular mechanisms of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease with a particular focus on the role of redox signaling in vascular endothelial cell dysfunction in response to various risk factors including hyperlipidemia, aging, and chronic alcohol abuse, which are supported by NIH grants. (National Heart Lung and Blood Institute—R01HL137771, National Institute of Aging—R21AG058983, and National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism—R21AA026922) Animal models of atherosclerosis, vascular aging, and chronic binge drinking have been established, and conditional tissue specific transgenic and knockout mice strains are employed to decipher the in vivo role of thiol redox signaling in vascular dysfunction and development of atherosclerosis. Isolated endothelial cells from human subjects with cardiovascular disease and cultured human aortic endothelial cells, as well redox proteomics and various molecular biology methods are used to elucidate the molecular mechanism underlying redox regulation of endothelial function. (Representative publication: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5045950/pdf/main.pdf).

In addition to understanding the molecular mechanism of atherosclerosis, our research interests also lie in developing multidisciplinary approach to measuring vascular function in murine animals, and to targeted delivery of nanomedicine to cardiovascular system. We have developed a novel optical coherence tomography-based vascular imaging system enabling to real-time measure 3D angiography and hemodynamics of femoral artery of mouse models in vivo, which is noninvasive, label-free, contact-free, and high degree of automation in data acquisition and processing.(Representative publication: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6226329/) We also initiated an exciting collaborative project with biotech company investigating the targeted delivery of redox-controllable nanoparticles to cardiovascular system in vivo, which has been a great challenge for drug delivery and treatment for cardiovascular disease.