Biology of Pericytes – Recent Advances

The book will teach the readers about this so special cell type that 10 years ago was almost completely forgotten, and it was associated basically only with vascular stability. Recently, it become a very hot topic to work in. Several articles in Nature, Science and Cell have been and are being currently published about this cell type. These recent works are revealing how important those cells are for before unimaginable biological processes.

Thus, this book will update us on what are the most novel functions attributed to these cells. Also, will introduce to the young generation all the history about these cells from when they were discovered in different organs till where we are now in this field. So it will be a great book for both cell biology students as well as researchers that will have an update on these cells biology in different organs.

Chapter 1 - In Vivo Optical Imaging and Manipulation of Brain Pericytes

Andrée-Anne Berthiaume, Vanessa Coelho-Santos, David A. Hartmann, and Andy Y. Shih, University of Washington, USA

Andy.Shih@SeattleChildrens.org

Chapter 2 – The complex and integral roles of pericytes within the neurovascular unit in health and disease

Brad A. Sutherland, University of Tasmania, Australia

brad.sutherland@utas.edu.au 

Chapter 3 – Role of pericytes in brain metastasis

Yoichi Morofujia, Shinsuke Nakagawab, Takashi Fujimotoa, Susumu Yamaguchia, Kenta Ujifukua, and Takayuki Matsuoa, Nagasaki University, Japan

yoichi51@hotmail.com

morofujiyoichi@gmail.com

Chapter 4 – Effects of Cytomegalovirus on Pericytes

Donald J. Alcendor, Meharry Medical College, USA

dalcendor@mmc.edu

Chapter 5 - Pericytes in Retinal Ischemia

Luis Alarcon-Martinez, Gülce Küreli, and Turgay Dalkara, Hacettepe University, Turkey

tdalkara@hacettepe.edu.tr

Chapter 6 – Inflammatory mediators released by brain pericytes as sensors and effectors in blood-brain barrier dysfunction

Shinya Dohgu, Fuyuko Takata, and Yasufumi Kataoka, Fukuoka University, Japan

ykataoka@fukuoka-u.ac.jp

Chapter 7 – TLR-4 signaling in Pericytes

Alessandra Stasi, Rossana Franzin, Giuseppe Stefano Netti, Elena Ranieri, Loreto Gesualdo, Giovanni Stallone, and Giuseppe Castellano, University of Foggia, Italy

giuseppe.castellano@unifg.it

Chapter 8 – EphA7+ Multipotent Pericytes and Their Roles in Multicellular Organisms

Jun-ichi Kawabe, Asahikawa Medical University, Japan

kawabeju@asahikawa-med.ac.jp

Chapter 9 - Skeletal Muscle-Resident Pericyte Responses to Conditions of Use and Disuse

Michael Munroe, Svyatoslav Dvoretskiy, and Marni D. Boppart, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

mboppart@illinois.edu

Chapter 10 - Pericytes in myocardial diseases

Linda Alex, Izabela Tuleta, and Nikolaos G Frangogiannis, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, USA

nikolaos.frangogiannis@einsteinmed.org

Chapter 11 - Adventitial and skeletal muscle pericytes in health and in ischemic tissue regeneration

A. Rampin, P. Campagnolo, V. Mastrullo, P. Madeddu, and G. Spinetti, University of Bristol, UK

gaia.spinetti@multimedica.it

madeddu@yahoo.com, paolo.madeddu@bristol.ac.uk

Dr. Alexander Birbrair received his bachelor’s biomedical degree from Santa Cruz State University in Brazil. He completed his PhD in Neuroscience, in the field of stem cell biology, at the Wake Forest School of Medicine under the mentorship of Osvaldo Delbono. Then, he joined as a postdoc in stem cell biology at Paul Frenette’s laboratory at Albert Einstein School of Medicine in New York. In 2016, he was appointed faculty at Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil, where he started his own lab. His laboratory is interested in understanding how the cellular components of different tissues function and control disease progression. His group explores the roles of specific cell populations in the tissue microenvironment by using state-of-the-art techniques. His research is funded by the Serrapilheira Institute, CNPq, CAPES, and FAPEMIG. In 2018, Alexander was elected affiliate member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC), and, in 2019, he was elected member of the Global Young Academy (GYA). He is the Founding Editor and Editor-in-Chief of Current Tissue Microenvironment Reports, and Associate Editor of Molecular Biotechnology. Alexander also serves in the editorial board of several other international journals: Stem Cell Reviews and Reports, Stem Cell Research, Stem Cells and Development, and Histology and Histopathology.

Affiliations and Expertise

Department of Radiology, Columbia University, USA 

Department of Pathology, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil