
Zeljko Bosnjak, PhD
Professor, Medicine (Endocrinology); Secondary Faculty in Physiology
Locations
- Medical Education Building
M4545
Contact Information
General Interests
Education
Biography
Specialties
- Stem Cell Biology
Secondary Appointments
- Physiology
Zeljko J. Bosnjak, PhD, FAHA, is Professor of Medicine and Physiology. He received his doctorate from the Medical College of Wisconsin and has been continually funded by the NIH since 1981, including the current Program Project Grant. His research has been documented in more than 330 articles, reviews & book chapters, and is focused on patient stem cell-derived cardiac and neural cells. Dr. Bosnjak trained more than 130 pre-and postdoctoral fellows and served on various committees at MCW. He was an editor of Anesthesiology, president of the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research, Academy of Research Mentors in Anesthesiology, and currently serves on many editorial boards. Dr. Bosnjak was a long-time member and the Chairman of the NIH Surgery, Anesthesia, and Trauma Study Section; member of the National Advisory General Medical Sciences Council; and continues to serve on study sections for the NIH.
Other Leadership Positions
External
- NIH-SSBIBE Special Emphasis Panel member
- NIH-NHLBI PPG Review Panel member
- NIH-SBIR Review Panel member
- AHA Fellow of the American Heart Association (F.A.H.A.)
- Editorial Board, Faculty of 1000 Research
MCW Internal
- MSTP Admissions Committee
- Global Health Program Section Committee
- CTSI Reviewer
- Global Health Advisory Council Member
- CVC Tissue Bank Subcommittee
- Cardiovascular Center’s Internal Scientific Advisory Board
- Cardiovascular Center’s Human iPSC Program Oversight Committee
- Department of Medicine Diversity & Inclusion Committee
Leadership Positions
- 2003-2017 Vice Chairman for Research, Department of Anesthesiology, Medical College of Wisconsin
Research Interests
Mechanisms of Anesthetic Cardioprotection. Over the past 15 years of the current PPG, more than 12 different departments and MCW Institutes have been involved in studying cardiac protection. A significant discovery made during the current cycle of this PPG was that effectiveness of cardiac preconditioning is attenuated in diabetic animals or in hyperglycemic conditions. We have now developed a clinically relevant model of anesthetic cardioprotection using human cardiomyocytes derived from induced pluripotent stem cells, obtained from both non-diabetic and type 2 diabetic patients. This in vitro model of human disease will enable developmental and comparative studies of normal and diabetic cardiomyocytes to address cellular and environmental mechanisms responsible for attenuation of cardioprotection efficacy in diabetics.
The use of biomarkers in detecting anesthetic-induced developmental neurotoxicity in children. Co-Investigators: Drs. Bosnjak, Pant, Berens, and Taylor. This research aims to identify circulating biomarkers that may help identify children, who are at risk for developing learning and memory impairment due to prolonged or repeated surgery.
Surrogate Biomarkers of Adriamycin-induced Cardiotoxicity. Co-Investigators: Drs. Bosnjak, Benjamin, Pant, Olson, Saucedo, and Chitambar. Previous studies have shown that derived cardiomyocytes from individuals who experienced doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity reproducibly demonstrated greater sensitivity to doxorubicin toxicity than did myocytes from treated patients who did not exhibit cardiotoxicity toxicity. We have received IRB approval to conduct a pilot retrospective study on two groups of breast cancer survivors that received anthracycline. One group with no subsequent cardiac issues and the other diagnosed with cardiomyopathy post treatment. We are in the process of identifying various surrogate biomarkers of anthracycline-related cardiac sensitivity.
Repairing Esophageal Defects with Tissue Engineering. Co-Investigators: Drs. Bosnjak, Dua, Lal, Densmore, Gasparri, and Pant. Regenerating the lost segment of the esophagus and restoring peristaltic motility would be ideal for many patients diagnosed with esophageal cancer or children born with esophageal atresia. To date, this is a major unmet need as only few studies have been done using the principles of regenerative medicine to re-grow the esophagus, and only in animal models. We have submitted an IRB application to conduct an initial pilot study and develop a tissue-engineered regenerative platform of extra cellular matrix (ECM), endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells and autologous pluripotent cells in-vitro that can be used to regenerate the esophagus. Full-thickness human esophageal and adipose tissue will be obtained from the resected and discarded esophagus of adults and children undergoing esophagectomy for clinical indications. Adipose tissue derived stem cells, esophageal epithelial cells and smooth muscle cells will be extracted from these specimens, expanded and incorporated into different ECM-based bioscaffolds. We will analyze the feasibility, optimal conditions of the bioreactor, time required for human cell line expansion, tissue formation, anatomical and functional connectivity. The ultimate product of this study is to regenerate a functional esophagus with tissue engineering that can be used to repair large esophageal defects.
Research Experience
- Cardiac protection
- Cardio-oncology
- Developmental Neuroapoptosis
- Stem Cells
Laboratory Studies
- Mechanisms of anesthetic-induced cardioprotection
- Biomarkers of developmental neurotoxicity of general anesthetics
- Surrogate biomarkers of doxorubicin-induced cardiac toxicity
- Esophageal repair using tissue engineering
Publications
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Biphasic effect of metformin on human cardiac energetics.
(Emelyanova L, Bai X, Yan Y, Bosnjak ZJ, Kress D, Warner C, Kroboth S, Rudic T, Kaushik S, Stoeckl E, Ross GR, Rizvi F, Tajik AJ, Jahangir A.) Transl Res. 2021 Mar;229:5-23 PMID: 33045408 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85095776755 10/13/2020
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(Pant T, Dhanasekaran A, Zhao M, Thorp EB, Forbess JM, Bosnjak ZJ, Benjamin IJ, Ge ZD.) Sci Rep. 2021 Jan 28;11(1):2571 PMID: 33510471 PMCID: PMC7843621 01/30/2021
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(Pant T, DiStefano JK, Logan S, Bosnjak ZJ.) Anesth Analg. 2020 Dec 16 PMID: 33332892 12/18/2020
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(Chinn GA, Pearn ML, Vutskits L, Mintz CD, Loepke AW, Lee JJ, Chen J, Bosnjak ZJ, Brambrink AM, Jevtovic-Todorovic V, Sun LS, Sall JW.) Br J Anaesth. 2020 May;124(5):585-593 PMID: 32145876 PMCID: PMC7424895 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85081263289 03/09/2020
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(Pant T, Dhanasekaran A, Bai X, Zhao M, Thorp EB, Forbess JM, Bosnjak ZJ, Ge ZD.) Sci Rep. 2019 10 25;9(1):15345 PMID: 31653946 PMCID: PMC6814824 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85074150710 10/28/2019
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(Horikoshi Y, Yan Y, Terashvili M, Wells C, Horikoshi H, Fujita S, Bosnjak ZJ, Bai X.) Cells. 2019 09 17;8(9) PMID: 31533262 PMCID: PMC6769886 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85080144549 09/20/2019
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(Pant T, Mishra MK, Bai X, Ge ZD, Bosnjak ZJ, Dhanasekaran A.) Diab Vasc Dis Res. 2019 01;16(1):57-68 PMID: 30482051 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85058938678 11/30/2018
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Stem Cell Therapies in Cardiovascular Disease.
(Terashvili M, Bosnjak ZJ.) J Cardiothorac Vasc Anesth. 2019 Jan;33(1):209-222 PMID: 30029992 PMCID: PMC6203676 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85049877595 07/22/2018
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(Liu Y, Paterson M, Baumgardt SL, Irwin MG, Xia Z, Bosnjak ZJ, Ge ZD.) Cardiovasc Res. 2019 01 01;115(1):168-178 PMID: 29931049 PMCID: PMC6302266 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85058917907 06/23/2018
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Current status and strategies of long noncoding RNA research for diabetic cardiomyopathy.
(Pant T, Dhanasekaran A, Fang J, Bai X, Bosnjak ZJ, Liang M, Ge ZD.) BMC Cardiovasc Disord. 2018 10 20;18(1):197 PMID: 30342478 PMCID: PMC6196023 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85055075405 10/22/2018
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(Jiang C, Logan S, Yan Y, Inagaki Y, Arzua T, Ma P, Lu S, Bosnjak ZJ, Bai X.) Sci Rep. 2018 09 21;8(1):14172 PMID: 30242182 PMCID: PMC6155049 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85053736036 09/23/2018
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(Ge ZD, Li Y, Qiao S, Bai X, Warltier DC, Kersten JR, Bosnjak ZJ, Liang M.) Anesthesiology. 2018 01;128(1):117-129 PMID: 29040168 PMCID: PMC5726897 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85037993657 10/19/2017