
Gary Mouradian, PhD
Assistant Professor
Locations
- Physiology
Contact Information
Biography
Dr. Mouradian received his BA from Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 2009. In 2014 he obtained his PhD in Physiology from the Medical College of Wisconsin. His PhD work was focused on understanding the role of peripheral carotid body O2 chemosensors and their role in 1) maintaining eupneic breathing and 2) gain modulation of the central CO2 chemosensors. He used a combination of whole-animal physiology and RNA Sequencing. He then completed four years of postdoctoral training at the University of Colorado in Denver and MCW, where he studied the role of oxidative stress in lung diseases (pulmonary hypertension, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and bronchopulmonary dysplasia). He synthesized his passion and interests in neural control of breathing with lung biology to garner the prestigious Parker B. Francis Award. This award paved the way for a faculty position which led to the start of his independent laboratory in February of 2022 where he directs research focusing on how lung disease impacts the neural control of breathing via damage to vagal fibers that innervate the lung.
Professional Affiliations
- 2011-present: American Physiological Society (APS)
- 2014-present: American Thoracic Society (ATS)
Mentoring and Training
Dr. Mouradian is a proponent of assisting his lab members define and reach their own career goals. Within the confines of funded research, he helps identify opportunities that will help his people grow professionally in the manner they define. He maintains availability for trainees and staff and believes that his success is determined by the success of his lab members. We are hiring graduate students, postdocs, and staff. Feel free to reach out via email at gmouradian@mcw.edu.
Please see the Mouradian lab website for additional information about our group and research.
Honors and Awards
2022 – MCW Outstanding Medical Student Teacher
2020 – CNS Section Research Recognition Award, American Physiological Society
2019 – Caroline tum Suden/Frances Hellebrant Professional Opportunity Award, American Physiological Society
2019 – Data Sciences International Physiologic Omics Award, American Physiological Society
2018 – Parker B. Francis Award
Research Interests
Breathing does not simply “happen.” An interconnected network of three key components within the body works together in a dynamic and refined manner. These three components include, 1) the lungs, where O2 and CO2 move in and out of the blood, respectively, 2), the area in the brainstem that controls when and how we breathe is the controller, and 3), sensors throughout the body that relay feedback to the brainstem respiratory control network regarding how well the system is doing. Nerves course throughout the body, including the lung, that relay this sensory feedback to the brainstem respiratory control network. Thus, damage to one or more components can cause insufficient or problematic breathing.
The Mouradian Lab is investigating the specific biological factors within the lungs that underly functional changes to the neural control of breathing in chronic lung diseases in adults (COPD) and extremely premature (born <28 weeks gestation) (Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD)).
We are focused on two primary lines of research:
- Vagal sensory neurons. The lung is highly innervated with subsets of vagal sensory fibers that target anatomically distinct regions in the lung and provide feedback to the brainstem’s respiratory control network. Are these fibers damaged in lung disease? Do they contribute to breathing control problems that often manifest in chronic lung diseases?
- Neuroepithelial bodies (NEBs). NEBs are clusters of pulmonary neuroendocrine cells often found at branch points along the conducting airway. They are sensitive to O2, CO2, nicotine, and other factors, with a role in amplifying allergic airway responses. They are also highly innervated and regularly found hyperplastic in patients succumbing to respiratory diseases including BPD and COPD. What is the functional role of NEBs regarding the control of breathing? Are sensing modalities enhanced/diminished in chronic lung disease?
Research Experience
- Neural control of breathing
- Lung biology
- Vagal afferent signaling
- Respiratory diseases (COPD, BPD, Pulmonary Hypertension, SIDS)
- Patch clamp electrophysiology
- Single Cell & Bulk Tissue RNA Sequencing
Methodologies and Techniques
We model BPD and COPD in transgenic mouse lines coupled with whole body plethysmography and respirometry to measure breathing. We use optogenetics and chemogenetics to turn on/off specific cell types in vivo (DREADDs and DTR), AAV microinjection into the ganglia for cell-specific labelling or lesioning, RNA Scope and immunofluorescence for tissue and cellular visualization, and patch-clamp with or without single cell RNA Sequencing.
Publications
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(Patil CN, Ritter ML, Wackman KK, Oliveira V, Balapattabi K, Grobe CC, Brozoski DT, Reho JJ, Nakagawa P, Mouradian GC Jr, Kriegel AJ, Kwitek AE, Hodges MR, Segar JL, Sigmund CD, Grobe JL.) Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2022 Jun 01;322(6):R467-R485 PMID: 35348007 PMCID: PMC9054347 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85129779185 03/30/2022
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(Mouradian GC Jr, Liu P, Nakagawa P, Duffy E, Gomez Vargas J, Balapattabi K, Grobe JL, Sigmund CD, Hodges MR.) Front Synaptic Neurosci. 2022;14:910820 PMID: 35844900 PMCID: PMC9280690 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85134237459 07/19/2022
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(Reho JJ, Nakagawa P, Mouradian GC Jr, Grobe CC, Saravia FL, Burnett CML, Kwitek AE, Kirby JR, Segar JL, Hodges MR, Sigmund CD, Grobe JL.) Front Physiol. 2022;13:855054 PMID: 35283781 PMCID: PMC8914175 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85126220642 03/15/2022
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(Mouradian GC Jr, Kilby M, Alvarez S, Kaplan K, Hodges MR.) Physiol Rep. 2021 Jul;9(13):e14946 PMID: 34228894 PMCID: PMC8259800 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85109859087 07/07/2021
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Perinatal Hypoxemia and Oxygen Sensing.
(Mouradian GC Jr, Lakshminrusimha S, Konduri GG.) Compr Physiol. 2021 Apr 01;11(2):1653-1677 PMID: 33792908 PMCID: PMC8163069 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85103744573 04/02/2021
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Single-Cell Transcriptomic Analysis.
(Zheng Z, Chen E, Lu W, Mouradian G, Hodges M, Liang M, Liu P, Lu Y.) Compr Physiol. 2020 Mar 12;10(2):767-783 PMID: 32163201 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85081944090 03/13/2020
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Suppression of HIF2 signalling attenuates the initiation of hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension.
(Hu CJ, Poth JM, Zhang H, Flockton A, Laux A, Kumar S, McKeon B, Mouradian G, Li M, Riddle S, Pugliese SC, Brown RD, Wallace EM, Graham BB, Frid MG, Stenmark KR.) Eur Respir J. 2019 Dec;54(6) PMID: 31515405 PMCID: PMC6911916 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85076446906 09/14/2019
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Acute and chronic changes in the control of breathing in a rat model of bronchopulmonary dysplasia.
(Mouradian GC Jr, Alvarez-Argote S, Gorzek R, Thuku G, Michkalkiewicz T, Wong-Riley MTT, Konduri GG, Hodges MR.) Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2019 Mar 01;316(3):L506-L518 PMID: 30652496 PMCID: PMC6459293 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85063934830 01/18/2019
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The central role of serotonin.
(Mouradian GC, Hodges MR.) Elife. 2018 Oct 23;7 PMID: 30350782 PMCID: PMC6199130 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85055192473 10/24/2018
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(Garcia AM, Allawzi A, Tatman P, Hernandez-Lagunas L, Swain K, Mouradian G, Bowler R, Karimpour-Fard A, Sucharov CC, Nozik-Grayck E.) Physiol Genomics. 2018 Sep 01;50(9):807-816 PMID: 30004839 PMCID: PMC6172610 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85054759100 07/14/2018
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(Mu L, Xia DD, Michalkiewicz T, Hodges M, Mouradian G, Konduri GG, Wong-Riley MTT.) Physiol Rep. 2018 Mar;6(5) PMID: 29516654 PMCID: PMC5842315 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85043577285 03/09/2018
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(Puissant MM, Mouradian GC Jr, Liu P, Hodges MR.) Front Cell Neurosci. 2017;11:34 PMID: 28270749 PMCID: PMC5318415 03/09/2017