Austin Read

2020 Paroian Family PH Research Scholarship 

Department of Medicine, Queens University, Kingston, ON

Under the supervision of: Dr. Stephen L. Archer

About Austin Read, MSc Candidate 

Prior to attending Queen's University, Austin Read completed his Bachelor of Science, with a specialization in Chemical Biology, at McMaster University in 2019. He is now in the second year of his graduate studies in translational medicine. He is currently investigating the mechanisms that underlie fetal-to-newborn cardiovascular changes, specifically looking at the role of specific protein complexes in how cells sense changes in oxygen levels at birth. In Read’s project, there is also potential of identifying new therapeutic targets to treat persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN).

Project:

Mechanisms of fetal oxygen sensing and the role of the electron transport chain in the pulmonary artery and ductus arteriosus 

With the first breath, a newborn’s circulatory system must quickly adapt to obtaining oxygen through respiration, rather than through their mother’s circulation. In the fetus, the heart is designed to allow oxygenated blood coming from the placenta to bypass the developing lungs and be re-directed to the body’s circulation by way of a large fetal vessel called the patent ductus arteriosus (DA). When we take our first breath at birth, a rise in airway oxygen causes the pulmonary arteries to expand and the DA to constrict and eventually close, initiating the transition of the circulation from fetal to newborn patterns. When the DA fails to constrict, this results in persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN), a major cause of congenital heart disease in newborns. Both pulmonary artery expansion and DA constriction are dependent on the ability of these tissues to sense and respond to oxygen in their surrounding environment. Thus, it is likely that disorders of oxygen sensing contribute to PPHN.

Read’s proposed project aims to identify how cells of the fetal pulmonary arteries and DA sense and respond to oxygen in their environment, in order to identify new molecular targets to treat PPHN.