The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded Dr. Georgia Zarkada a prestigious five-year funding award for angiogenesis research in angiogenesis. This program (K99 / R00) allows new researchers to transition from a supervised postdoctoral position to an independent research position. Dr. Zarkada studies the activity of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β transforming transforming growth factor-β) in endothelial cells.

Dr. Zarkada is a postdoctoral researcher at the Yale Cardiovascular Research Center. The aim of her research is to uncover the molecular mechanisms through which TGF-β controls the development of new vessels in physiological and pathological conditions with the aim of finding new intervention sites for the treatment of retinal vasculopathies such as diabetic retinopathy. In this study transgenic mice are used to allow highly precise gene manipulation, as well as single cell RNA sequencing transcriptomic analysis.

Greek women in STEM congratulates Dr. Zarkada and we hope to hear from her soon, through her work as an independent investigator.