Email

yohannes.ghebre@bcm.edu

Positions

Associate Professor; Director of Radiation Biology Research and Education

Radiation Oncology
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas, United States

Assistant Professor

Houston Methodist Research Institute

Postdoctoral Scientist

Medicine
Cardiovascular Medicine
Stanford University

Member

Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas, United States

Addresses

Lab (Lab)

Neurosensory Building (NB) 340
Houston, TX 77030
United States

Education

PhD from University of Cape Town

Cape Town, South Africa

Honors & Awards

Fellow of the American Heart Association

American Heart Association

Professional Statement

Regulation of the nitric oxide synthase (NOS) pathway using small molecules is a major strategy we employ in my laboratory to translate basic research insights into useful therapy for cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases. Recently, we applied high throughput screening (HTS) technology to discover small molecules that directly regulate this pathway. Intriguingly, we discovered that proton pump inhibitors (PPIs; a class of FDA-approved drug developed to treat gastric acidity) directly modulate the NOS pathway and regulate many of the downstream processes associated with overly active NOS including tissue inflammation and fibrosis.
More recently, we demonstrated that PPIs suppress lung inflammation and fibrosis in an experimental model of acute lung injury in part by regulating the transcription of inducible NOS (iNOS) and several classic pro-inflammatory cytokines.
Currently, we have ongoing cardiovascular and pulmonary projects that leverage our strength in pharmacology:
Cardiovascular: Our projects include modulation of the vascular endothelial system using small molecules and microRNA to treat cardiovascular disease including atherosclerosis.
Pulmonary: We are working towards developing stand-alone and combinatorial therapy to modulate lung inflammation and fibrosis that results from chemical (e.g. bleomycin) or ionizing radiation.

Websites

Selected Publications

• Ghebre YT, Raghu G. "Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: Novel Concepts of Proton Pump Inhibitors as Antifibrotic Drug." Am J Respir Crit Care Med.. 2016 April 25; : Pubmed PMID: 27110898
• Ghebremariam YT, Cooke JP, Gerhart W, Griego C, Brower JB, Doyle-Eisele M, Moeller BC, Zhou Q, Ho L, de Andrade J, Raghu G, Peterson L, Rivera A, Rosen GD. "Pleiotropic effect of the proton pump inhibitor esomeprazole leading to suppression of lung inflammation and fibrosis.." J Transl Med.. 2015 August 1; 13 : 249. Pubmed PMID: 26231702
• Zhou G, Meng S, Li Y, Ghebre YT, Cooke JP. "Optimal ROS Signaling Is Critical for Nuclear Reprogramming.." Cell Rep.. 2016 May 3; 15 (5): 919-925. Pubmed PMID: 27117405
• Lai L, Ghebremariam YT. "Modulating DDAH/NOS Pathway to Discover Vasoprotective Insulin Sensitizers.." J Diabetes Res.. 2016 December 6; 2016 : 1982096. Pubmed PMID: 26770984

Memberships

American Thoracic Society

American Heart Association

Funding

DDAH As a Novel Target in Pulmonary Fibrosis

Grant funding from NIH (NHLBI)

Intellectual Property

Dimethylarginine Dimethylaminohydrolase Inhibitors and Methods of Use Thereof

Product Patent #9011882 (Approved)

Use of small molecules including proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) to modulate lung remodeling.