Victoria L. Bautch

About

Victoria L. Bautch is a Beverly Long Chapin Distinguished Professor in the UNC Department of Biology, affiliated with the Program in Molecular Biology & Biotechnology. Her research focuses on the growth and interactions of cells within their natural environment—the animal—and how these interactions are modified in disease. She studies the mechanisms that control blood vessel formation, which is crucial for development and is involved in diseases such as cancer and diabetes. Her work involves developing models of developmental blood vessel formation using genetically altered mice and cells derived from those mice, including a cell culture model to study the cross-talk between cellular processes like cell division and sprouting migration to expand vessel networks. Bautch's research includes using mouse embryonic stem cells to differentiate into structures containing embryonic tissues, including primitive blood vessels, with visualization of blood vessel formation through GFP reporter genes and time-lapse imaging. She employs genetic manipulation and inhibitors to dissect the role of signaling pathways such as VEGF in these processes. Her studies also investigate the role of a novel gene that activates cellular homologs of oncogenes like Ras, which is not required for development but is necessary for vessel response to tumor-promoting agents, indicating its importance in diseases like cancer and diabetes. Additionally, she explores how blood vessels determine their migration…

Research topics

• Cell biology
• Genetics
• Biology
• Cancer research
• Chemistry
• Biochemistry

Selected publications

• Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Reveals Endothelial Cell Transcriptome Heterogeneity Under Homeostatic Laminar Flow

  Arteriosclerosis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology · 2021 · 43 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Objective: Endothelial cells (ECs) that form the innermost layer of all vessels exhibit heterogeneous cell behaviors and responses to pro-angiogenic signals that are critical for vascular sprouting and angiogenesis. Once vessels form, remodeling and blood flow lead to EC quiescence, and homogeneity in cell behaviors and signaling responses. These changes are important for the function of mature vessels, but whether and at what level ECs regulate overall expression heterogeneity during this trans…

  DOI

• Nuclear SUN1 stabilizes endothelial cell junctions via microtubules to regulate blood vessel formation

  eLife · 2023 · 40 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  impaired blood vessel formation and destabilized junctions, angiogenic sprouts formed but retracted in SUN1-depleted sprouts, and zebrafish vessels lacking Sun1b had aberrant junctions and defective cell-cell connections. At the cellular level, SUN1 stabilized endothelial cell-cell junctions, promoted junction function, and regulated contractility. Mechanistically, SUN1 depletion altered cell behaviors via the cytoskeleton without changing transcriptional profiles. Reduced peripheral microtubule…

  PublisherDOI

• SMAD6 transduces endothelial cell flow responses required for blood vessel homeostasis

  Angiogenesis · 2021 · 35 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Fluid shear stress provided by blood flow instigates a transition from active blood vessel network expansion during development, to vascular homeostasis and quiescence that is important for mature blood vessel function. Here we show that SMAD6 is required for endothelial cell flow-mediated responses leading to maintenance of vascular homeostasis. Concomitant manipulation of the mechanosensor Notch1 pathway and SMAD6 expression levels revealed that SMAD6 functions downstream of ligand-induced Not…

  DOI

• Trafficking dynamics of VEGFR1, VEGFR2, and NRP1 in human endothelial cells

  PLoS Computational Biology · 2024-02-07 · 21 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family of cytokines are key drivers of blood vessel growth and remodeling. These ligands act via multiple VEGF receptors (VEGFR) and co-receptors such as Neuropilin (NRP) expressed on endothelial cells. These membrane-associated receptors are not solely expressed on the cell surface, they move between the surface and intracellular locations, where they can function differently. The location of the receptor alters its ability to 'see' (access and bind…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Life at the crossroads: the nuclear LINC complex and vascular mechanotransduction

  Frontiers in Physiology · 2024-05-20 · 15 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Vascular endothelial cells line the inner surface of all blood vessels, where they are exposed to polarized mechanical forces throughout their lifespan. Both basal substrate interactions and apical blood flow-induced shear stress regulate blood vessel development, remodeling, and maintenance of vascular homeostasis. Disruption of these interactions leads to dysfunction and vascular pathologies, although how forces are sensed and integrated to affect endothelial cell behaviors is incompletely und…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01HL083262

  NIH · $1.4M · 2011

• Mechanisms of neovascularization in response to ischemia

  NIH · $1.5M · 2014–2018

• Molecular Control of Angiogenesis

  NIH · $7.1M · 1989–2020

Frequent coauthors

• William P. Dunworth

  92 shared

• Suk-Won Jin

  Yale University

  76 shared

• Heon‐Woo Lee

  Chosun University

  74 shared

• Diana C. Chong

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  54 shared

• John C. Chappell

  46 shared

• William L. Stanford

  Ottawa Hospital

  45 shared

• Maneesha S. Inamdar

  Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research

  43 shared

• Michihiro Hidaka

  Kumamoto Medical Center

  42 shared

Similar researchers at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• John Brunoh-74
• Robert J. Duronioh-62
• Gregory P. Copenhaverh-49