Clinical Focus

• Aortic Disease
• Marfan Syndrome and Aortic Disorders
• Cardiovascular Disease

Professional Education

Current Research Interests

Dr. Spin is pursuing fundamental issues relating to smooth muscle cell (SMC) biology. SMCs play crucial roles in vascular development, homeostasis, and disease. He has examined gene expression within the vascular wall, identifying patterns and pathways that characterized atherogenesis. He has also studied the biology of differentiation and phenotypic switching in vascular SMCs, first identifying differentially regulated genes associated with SMC lineage determination, and then focusing on the epigenetic regulation of SMC differentiation state. Most recently he has examined the role of microRNAs in the regulation of SMC phenotype, and studied the biology of aortic aneurysm development in mouse models.

Publications

• In vivo functional and transcriptional profiling of bone marrow stem cells after transplantation into ischemic myocardium. Sheikh AY, Huber BC, Narsinh KH, Spin JM, van der Bogt K, de Almeida PE, Ransohoff KJ, Kraft DL, Fajardo G, Ardigo D, Ransohoff J, Bernstein D, Fischbein MP, Robbins RC, Wu JC. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2012; 32 (1): 92-102
• miR-29b Participates in Early Aneurysm Development in Marfan Syndrome. Merk DR, Chin JT, Dake BA, Maegdefessel L, Miller MO, Kimura N, Tsao PS, Iosef C, Berry GJ, Mohr FW, Spin JM, Alvira CM, Robbins RC, Fischbein MP. Circ Res. 2012; 110 (2): 312-24
• Cardiac pressure overload hypertrophy is differentially regulated by β-adrenergic receptor subtypes. Zhao M, Fajardo G, Urashima T, Spin JM, Poorfarahani S, Rajagopalan V, Huynh D, Connolly A, Quertermous T, Bernstein D. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2011; 301 (4): H1461-70
• Gene mutations and familial thoracic aortic aneurysms: a walk on the mild side. Spin JM, Circ Cardiovasc Genet. 2011; 4 (1): 4-6
• MicroRNA-26a is a novel regulator of vascular smooth muscle cell function. Leeper NJ, Raiesdana A, Kojima Y, Chun HJ, Azuma J, Maegdefessel L, Kundu RK, Quertermous T, Tsao PS, Spin JM. J Cell Physiol. 2011; 226 (4): 1035-43