Contact Information:
khirschi@bcm.edu
713-798-7771

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Education:
PhD - University of Arizona
Postdoc - Harvard Medical School

Research Interests:
The primary interest of our laboratory is to understand, at the cellular and molecular level, the events leading to blood vessel formation. We are interested in elucidating regulators of vascular cell (endothelial and smooth muscle) recruitment, proliferation and differentiation needed for blood vessel assembly and maintenance. We aim to define mechanisms by which soluble effectors, such as retinoids and TGF-beta, and cell-cell junctional components, such as gap junctions, modulate vascular cell phenotype and cell cycle progression. We utilize in vitro coculture systems to study interactions between vascular cells and their precursors. In vivo regulation of blood vessel assembly is studied in transgenic mouse models.

Another focus of our laboratory is investigating the potential of adult stem cells to contribute to neovascularization in response to tissue injury and growth. Utilizing bone marrow transplantation and localized delivery techniques, we study mechanisms by which adult stem cells are recruited, induced to differentiate into vascular cells, and functionally integrated into existing vascular networks.

Insights gained from our cell and developmental studies are applied to the optimization of clinically relevant treatments including autologous vascular cell and gene therapy, creation of blood vessels grafts, and vascularization of engineered tissues.

Selected Publications:
Hirschi KK, Rohovsky SA and D'Amore PA. 1998. PDGF, TGF-beta and heterotypic cell-cell interactions mediate the recruitment and differentiation of 10T1/2 cells to a smooth muscle fate. J. Cell Biology 141:805-814.

Niklason L, Gao C, Abbott P, Hirschi KK, Houser M, Marini D and Langer R. 1999. Functional arterial grafts grown in vitro. Science 284:422-425.

Jackson, K.A.*, S.M. Majka*, H. Wang, J. Pocius, C. Hartley, M.W. Majesky, L. Michael, M. Entman, K.K. Hirschi & M.A. Goodell. (2001) Regeneration of ischemic cardiac muscle and vascular endothelium by adult stem cells. J. Clinical Investigation 107: 1395-1402. *Contributed equally.

Hirschi, K.K., L. Lai, N.S. Belaguli, D. Dean, R.J. Schwartz & W.E. Zimmer. (2001) TGF-b induction of a smooth muscle cell phenotype requires transcriptional and post-transcriptional control of serum response factor. J. Biological Chemistry 277:6287-95.

Noveroske, J.K., L. Lai, V. Gaussin, J. Northrop, K.K. Hirschi & M.J. Justice. (2002) Quaking is essential for embryonic blood vessel formation. Genesis 32:218-230

Hirschi, K.K. and M.A. Goodell (2002) Hematopoietic, vascular, and cardiac fates of bone marrow-derived stem cells. Gene Therapy 9:648-652.

Hirschi, K.K., T.C. Skalak, S.M. Peirce and C.D. Little. (2002) Vascular assembly in natural and engineered tissues. Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 961:223-242.

Majka, S.M., K.A. Jackson, K.A. Kienstra, M.W. Majesky, M.A. Goodell & K.K. Hirschi. (2002) Distinct populations of vascular progenitors in skeletal muscle are bone marrow-derived and exhibit different cell fates during vascular regeneration. J. Clinical Investigation (accepted)