Dr. Beth L Roman, PhD

Dr. Roman is a developmental biologist and molecular geneticist. She received her postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health and was an Assistant Professor at Georgetown University (2002-2006) and the University of Pittsburgh Department of Biological Sciences (2006-2014). She is currently Research Director for the UPMC/University of Pittsburgh HHT Center of Excellence.

The Roman lab studies the autosomal dominant genetic disorder, hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT), which is caused by decreased endothelial bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling and is characterized by a predisposition to development of arteriovenous malformations (AVMs). AVMs are direct connections between arteries and veins that can lead to hemorrhage or stroke if severe shunting or rupture occurs. The Roman lab uses zebrafish models of HHT and molecular, genetic, advanced imaging, and biochemistry approaches to uncover the molecular and cellular errors that lead to AVM development. Out ultimate goal is to develop therapeutics that specifically target HHT.

Research Interests: Vascular development, hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia, zebrafish, BMP signaling, mechanotransduction.

1989 | The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA  |  BS Biochemistry

1997  |  The University of Wisconsin-Madison |  PhD Environmental Toxicology
2002  |  NIH/NICHD, Bethesda, MD  |  Postdoc Developmental Biology

Arulselvi Anbalagan, lab manager

Xinyan Lu, postdoctoral fellow

Teresa Capasso, PhD student

Erika Dreikorn, PhD student

Full list of publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/beth.roman.2/bibliography/40386158/public/?sort=date&direction=descending

Laux, D.W. , Young, S., Donovan J.P. , Mansfield, C.J., Upton, P.D., and Roman, B.L. (2013). Circulating Bmp10 acts through endothelial Alk1 to mediate flow-dependent arterial quiescence. Development 140, 3403-3412. PMCID: PMC3737721.

Wooderchuk-Donahue, W.L., McDonald, J., O’Fallon, B., Upton, P.D., Li, W., Roman, B.L., Young, S., Plant, P., Fulop, G., Langa, C., Morrell, N.W., Botella, L.M., Bernabeu, C., Stevenson, D.A., Runo, J.R., and Bayrak-Toydemir, P. (2013). BMP9 mutations cause a vascular anomaly syndrome with phenotypic overlap with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia. Am. J. Hum. Gen. 93, 530-537. PMCID: PMC3769931.

Lee, J., Esmaily Moghadam, M., Kung, E., Cao, H., Beebe, T., Miller, Y.I., Roman, B.L., Lien, C.L., Chi, N.C., Marsden, A.L., and Hsiai, T.  (2013). Moving domain computational fluid dynamics to interface with an embryonic model of cardiac morphogenesis. PLoS One 8, e72924 do1:10.1371/journal.pone.0072924. PMCID: PMC3751826.

Rochon, E.R., Wright, D.S., Schubert, M.M., and Roman, B.L. (2015). Context-specific interactions between Notch and ALK1 cannot explain ALK1-associated arteriovenous malformations. Cardiovasc. Res. 107, 143-152. PMCID: PMC4498135.

Arthur, H., Geisthoff, U., Gossage, J.R., Hughes, C.C., Lacombe, P., Meek, M.E., Oh, P., Roman, B.L., Tretola, S.O., Velthuis, S., Wooderchak-Donahue, W. (2015). Executive summary of the 11^th HHT international scientific conference. Angiogenesis 18, 511-524. 

Chiba, T., Skrypnyk, N., Skvarca, L.B., Penchev, R., Zhang, K.X., Rochon, E.R. ^††, Fall, J.L., Paueksakon, P., Yang, H., Roman, B.L., Zhang, M.Z., Harris, R., Hukriede, N.A., and De Caestecker, M.P. (2016). Retinoic acid signaling coordinates macrophage-dependent injury and repair after AKI. J. Amer. Soc. Nephrol. 27, 495-508. PMCID: PMC4731115.

Rochon, E.R., Menon, P.G., and Roman, B.L. (2016). Alk1 controls arterial endothelial cell migration in lumenized vessels. Development 143, 2593-2602.PMCID: PMC4958337.

Gau, D., Veon, W., Capasso, T.L., Bottcher, R., Shroff, S., Roman, B.L., and Roy, P. (2017). Pharmacological intervention of MKL/SRF signaling by CCG-1423 impedes endothelial cell migration and angiogenesis. Angiogenesis 20, 663-672. PMCID:PMC5985144.

Skvarca, L.B., Han, H., Espiritu, E., Missinato, M., Rochon, E., McDaniels, M.D., Bais, A.S., Roman, B.L., Waxman, J.S., Watkins, S., Davidson, A.J., Tsang, M., and Hukriede, N.A. (2019). Enhancing regeneration after acute kidney injury by promoting cellular dedifferentiation in zebrafish. Dis Model Mech 12, dmm037390 doi: 10.1242/dmm.037390. PMCID:PMC6505474.