Li-Ming Zhang, M.D., Assistant Professor

We have been informed by our Chairman Dr. John Williams that Dr. Li-Ming Zhang, former resident of anesthesiology and now Assistant Professor is not only a newly Board Certified Anesthesiologist, but also has had the distinction of earning a coveted Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research (FAER) training grant. The title of Dr. Zhang's successful research application is "Chemical biology of S-nitrosoalbumin in live pulmonary endothelial cells." We congratulate Dr. Zhang on this most outstanding accomplishment.

Training Grant

Li-Ming Zhang, M.D., University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: “Chemical biology of S-nitrosoalbumin in live pulmonary endothelial cells.” Mentor: Bruce R. Pitt, Ph.D.

Nitric oxide (NO) is a well known regulator of vascular homeostasis. S-Nitrosoalbumin(SNO-Alb) is the most abundant physiological stable circulating NO carrier in human plasma and also exerts vasodilatory and antiaggregatory properties in vitro and in vivo. Recent studies have showed that SNO-Alb produced a protective effect against ischemia/reperfusion-induced microvascular constriction and edema formation. In contrast to native albumin, the disposition of SNO-Alb in pulmonary endothelium remains unclear.

In the current application, we will characterize the biological effects of SNO-Alb within live intact rat pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells via contemporary imaging approaches by detecting (via real time confocal microscopy) its effect on fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) reporters of NO (cygnet-2, a reporter of soluble guanylyl cyclase) or (FRET-metallothionein, a reporter of S-nitrosation). Insight into the disposition of SNO-Alb in pulmonary endothelial cells should provide new mechanistic information on pulmonary vasomotor function and regulation of water and solute exchange in health and disease.