Michael Simons

Chief, Section of Cardiovascular Medicine
Professor of Medicine
Section of Cardiovascular Medicine

Research Interests

Angiogenesis and Endothelial Signaling

Dr. Simons’ research interests include fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling in the vascular system, regulation of arterial development and branching and endothelial signaling. He is also interested in the clinical applications of biological therapies—developing strategies for delivery and assessment of various biological agents (genes, proteins, antibodies, receptor “traps”)—and in identification and validation of novel biomarkers that predict individual responses to therapeutic interventions.

Recent Publications

• Chittenden TW, Claes F, Lanahan AA, Autiero, M, Palac RT, Tkachenko EV, Elfenbein A, de Almodovar CR, Dedkov E, Tomanek R, Li W, Westmore, M, Singh JP, Horowitz A, Mulligan-Kehoe MJ, Moodie KL, Zhuang ZW, Carmeliet P and Simons M. Selective regulation of arterial branching morphogenesis by synectin. Developmental Cell 2006;10:783-795.
• Tirziu D, Chorianopoulos E, Moodie KL, Palac RT, Zhuang ZW, Tjwa M, Roncal C, Eriksson U, Fu Q, Elfenbein A, Hall AE , Carmeliet P, Moons L, Simons M. Myocardial hypertrophy in the absence of external stimuli is induced by angiogenesis in mice. J Clin Invest 2007; 117:3188-3197.
• Murakami M, Nguyen LT, Zhuang Z, Moodie KL, Carmeliet P, Stan RV, Simons M. The fibroblast growth factor system regulation of vascular integrity. J Clin Invest 2008; 118:3355-3366.
• Partovian C, Ju R, Zhuang ZW, Martin K, Simons M. Syndecan-4 regulates subcellular localization of mTOR complex2 and Akt activation in a PKCα-dependent manner in endothelial cells. Molecular Cell; 2008 ; 32:140-149.
• Paye JD, Phng LK, Lanahan AA, Gerhardt H, Simons M. Synectin-dependent regulation of arterial maturation. Dev Dynamics 2009; 238:604-610.
• Mazzone M, Dettori D, De Oliveira RL, Schmidt T, Lanahan AA, Jonckx B, Desmet F, Aragones J, Vinckier S, Loges S, Luttun A, Wyns S, Jordan B, Pisacane A, Gallez B, Lampugnani MG, Maxwell P, Simons M, Ratcliffe P, Carmeliet P. Endothelial haploinsuficiency of the oxygen sensor PHD2 inhibits metastasis by inducing endothelial normalization to a “phalanx” fate. Cell 2009; 136:839-851.
• Elfenbein A, Rhodes JM, Meller J, Schwartz MA, Matsuda M, Simons M. Suppression of RhoG activity is mediated by a syndecan 4–synectin–RhoGDI1 complex and is reversed by PKC? in a Rac1 activation pathway. J Cell Biol 2009; 186:75-83.

Education:

MS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology MD, Yale University School of Medicine

Training:

Residency: Internal Medicine, New England Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts Postdoctoral Fellowship: Laboratory of Molecular Cardiology, at National Heart Lung and Blood Institute at National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland Cardiology Fellowship: Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts Postdoctoral Fellowship: Program for Excellence in Molecular Biology of the Cardiovascular System, MIT, Boston, Massachusetts

Contact

Campus Address
Department of Internal Medicine
Section of Cardiovascular Medicine
Yale University
School of Medicine
Box 208017
New Haven, CT
06520-8017

E-mail
michael.simons@yale.edu

Telephone
203.785.7000

Simons Lab