Nader Sheibani, PhD

Position title: Professor, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences

Phone: 608-263-3345

Address:
9418 WIMR
1111 Highland Ave

Research Interests

Our laboratory studies the molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate angiogenesis. We are interested in how alterations in normal regulatory mechanisms, under pathological conditions such as ischemia and diabetes, leads to vascular abnormalities and neovascularization. We use the postnatal developing retinal vasculature as a model to study all aspects of vascular development. In addition, we have established a number of mouse models to study neovascularization associated with aging, ischemia and diabetes. Our in vivo studies are complemented with our unique ability to culture retinal vascular cells from wild type and transgenic mice for in vitro studies. The utilization of these models has provided novel insight into the role of a number of genes in regulation of retinal vascular development and neovascularization. We are also utilizing our vascular cells for development of cell-based assays for identification of small molecules with potential therapeutic benefit for various eye diseases with a neovascular component.

Honors & Awards

1980 Freshman Chemistry Achievement Award, Nasson College
1980 George Nasson Scholar, Nasson College
1982 Presidential Scholarship, Nasson College
1982 Mathematics and Science Achievement Award, Nasson College
1982 Graduated Magna Cum Laude, Nasson College
1982 George Nasson Scholar, Nasson College
1984 Summer Research Fellowship, University of New Hampshire
1987 Finalist, Dorsey Award for Excellence in Manuscript Writing, Univ of Nebraska Medical Center
1988 Presidential Graduate Fellow, University of Nebraska Medical Center
2000 Atorvastatin Research Award
2002 Career Development Award, Research to Prevent Blindness
2005 Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Innovative Research Award
2010 NIH Director Research Award
2017 RPB Stein Innovation Award

Selected Publications

Negative regulators of angiogenesis: important targets for treatment of exudative AMD.
Farnoodian M, Wang S, Dietz J, Nickells RW, Sorenson CM, Sheibani N. Clin Sci (Lond). 2017 Jul 5;131(15):1763-1780.
Bcl-2 expression is essential for development and normal physiological properties of tooth hard tissue and saliva production. Saghiri MA, Asatourian A, Gurel Z, Sorenson CM, Sheibani N. Exp Cell Res. 2017 Jun 10. pii: S0014-4827(17)30334-8.
Bim expression in endothelial cells and pericytes is essential for regression of the fetal ocular vasculature.
Wang S, Zaitoun IS, Johnson RP, Jamali N, Gurel Z, Wintheiser CM, Strasser A, Lindner V, Sheibani N, Sorenson CM. PLoS One. 2017 May 26;12(5):e0178198.
Increased Retinal Oxygen Metabolism Precedes Microvascular Alterations in Type 1 Diabetic Mice.
Liu W, Wang S, Soetikno B, Yi J, Zhang K, Chen S, Linsenmeier RA, Sorenson CM, Sheibani N, Zhang HF. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2017 Feb 1;58(2):981-989.
Microglia activation is essential for BMP7-mediated retinal reactive gliosis. Dharmarajan S, Fisk DL, Sorenson CM, Sheibani N, Belecky-Adams TL. J Neuroinflammation. 2017 Apr 5;14(1):76.
Retinal oxidative stress at the onset of diabetes determined by synchrotron FTIR widefield imaging: towards diabetes pathogenesis. Aboualizadeh E, Ranji M, Sorenson CM, Sepehr R, Sheibani N, Hirschmugl CJ. Analyst. 2017 Mar 27;142(7):1061-1072.
β2-Adrenergic Receptor Antagonism Attenuates CNV Through Inhibition of VEGF and IL-6 Expression.
Lavine JA, Farnoodian M, Wang S, Darjatmoko SR, Wright LS, Gamm DM, Ip MS, Sorenson CM, Sheibani N. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2017 Jan 1;58(1):299-308.
Regulation of high glucose-induced apoptosis of brain pericytes by mitochondrial CA VA: A specific target for prevention of diabetic cerebrovascular pathology. Price TO, Sheibani N, Shah GN. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2017 Apr;1863(4):929-935.