Searching for new ways to repair or replace damaged blood vessel cells

Investigate the dynamic role of Quaking mRNA splicing in endothelial cell differentiation and its efficacy for vascular regeneration

Dr Andriana Margariti and her team at Queen’s University Belfast are looking for new ways to repair or replace damaged endothelial cells lining blood vessels in circulatory disease. We don’t really understand what causes the damage to these cells, but finding ways to repair or replace them could be extremely useful. In the lab, it is difficult to study endothelial cells, but it is possible to use stem cells - the ‘master’ cells in our bodies - to generate endothelial cells for use in therapies and to study the complex molecular signals within them. In this project, Dr Margariti will use stem cells to study endothelial cells. She has already found that a protein called Quaking plays a key role in blood vessel development. Quaking can influence how other proteins are made from DNA. To make a protein, cells in our bodies first use our DNA to make RNA. Quaking can then control how small pieces of RNA are put together into a full RNA molecule that is used to make a protein. Dr Margariti’s team will work out how Quaking is involved in forming endothelial cells from stem cells by controlling RNAs, and if it can be used to improve this process to reverse endothelial cell damage. She will also put endothelial cells, made from stem cells, into mice to see if they are able to repair damaged blood vessels. This research could pave the way for more research to test new treatments and drugs to enhance endothelial cell repair and new blood vessel formation in circulatory disease.