Peter F. Davies, Ph.D.
Director, Institute for Medicine and Engineering
Robinette Foundation Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine
Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Professor of Bioengineering
Director, Penn HHMI-NIBIB Interfaces Program in Biomedical Imaging
1010 Vagelos
Research Laboratories
3340 Smith Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6383
(215) 573-6813 phone
(215) 573-6815 fax
pfd@pobox.upenn.edu
Education
Ph.D.
(1975) Experimental Pathology, Cambridge University, UK
M.Sc. (1972) Biochemistry, University of Victoria, B.C., Canada
B.Sc. (1969) Biochemistry, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK
Professional
Experience
Director, NIH Specialized
Center of Research in Atherosclerosis, The University of Chicago, 1992 to 1996
Professor of Pathology (tenure), The University of Chicago, 1988 to 1996
Professor, Department of Medicine, The University of Chicago, 1993 to
1996
Associate Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 1982-1988
Visiting Scientist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge,
1982-1988
Assistant Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 1979-1982
Research Fellowships
Postdoctoral Research,
Experimental Pathology, Cambridge University, UK, 1975 to 1976
Senior Research Fellow, Cellular Pathology, Univ. of Washington, Seattle,
1977 to 1978
Biosketch
Dr. Davies moved to the University of Chicago in 1988 as Professor of Pathology and Director of the NIH Specialized Center of Research in Atherosclerosis, where he led research into molecular mechanisms of atherogenesis, and was also Director of the NIH training program in cardiovascular pathophysiology and biochemistry. In 1996 he was recruited to Penn as Founding Director of the interdisciplinary Institute for Medicine and Engineering (IME).
Noted for driving vascular pathology in innovative and important directions, his work has consistently taken an integrative and highly interdisiplinary approach to endothelial mechanotransduction in cardiovascular physiology and pathology. As a graduate student he was the originator of endothelial functional change in early atherogenesis, and subsequently developed new directions for vascular cell communication, quantitative structure-function studies in living cells, and subcellular spatial mechanisms of endothelial mechanotransduction including a widely accepted model of decentralized signaling. Current research in his lab is directed at studies of multiscale ‘spatial’ genomics that defines endothelial phenotypes as a function of regions of susceptibility to, or protection from, atherosclerosis (arteries) and calcification (heart valves). He is the author of >150 peer reviewed papers in cardiovascular, biomedical engineering, and basic science journals, and has trained more than 40 students and postdoctoral Fellows.
Dr. Davies currently serves on 5 editorial boards. He has served the AHA for many years at both the national and affiliate (Chicago) levels and is Past-Chairman (1997-99) of the National Research Committee of the AHA (Dallas). He is a member of several national committees and study sections, notably at the NIH, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the NSBRI at NASA. He was a member of the Smart Medical Systems Team of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute. He is a member of the Cardiac Physiome project and advisor to several European universities on integrative biomedical research. He was Chair of the NHLBI Working Group on Computational Vascular Biology (2005). In education, he has pioneered Clinical Preceptorships for undergraduate bioengineering students to promote early translational exposure, directs a pre and post doctoral NIH training grant, and leads a HHMI Scholars Ph.D. program in Biomedical Imaging. He teaches sections of graduate courses in Pharmacology, Cell and Molecular Biology in the Medical School, and Bioengineering in the School of Engineering.
Dr. Davies has been honored in both the cardiovascular and biomechanics fields including an NIH MERIT Award, the 1997 CARIM medal of the University of Maastricht, a Year 2000 Special Recognition Award of the AHA (ATVB Council), the Pritchett Endowed Lecturer in Pathology at UAB, the 2004 Senior Research Scientist Award from the Mid-Atlantic region AHA affiliate, and was the 2007 Haust Distinguished Lecturer. In Biomechanics, he was elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 1997 and was invited to Distinguished Lectureships in Biomedical Engineering (Biomechanics at Stanford; Zweifach Lecturer at CCNY; Northeast Bioengineering Society Keynote Lecture; Frontiers Lecturer at Stanford).
Selected Publications:
Helmke, B.P., Davies, P.F. 2004. Imaging Live Cells under Mechanical Stress. In: Live Cell Imaging: A Laboratory Manual. Edited: Spector, D.L. and Goldman, R.L. Publ. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. pp 569-584.
Passerini, A.G., Polacek, D.C., Shi, C.,. Francesco, N.M., Manduchi, E., Grant, G., Pritchard, W.P., Powell, S.J., Chang, G., Stoeckert, C., and Davies, P.F. 2004. Coexisting pro-inflammatory and anti-oxidative endothelial transcription profiles in a disturbed flow region of the adult porcine aorta. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101:2482-2487.
Davies, P.F., Passerini, A.G., Simmons, C.A. 2004. Aortic valve: Turning over a new leaf(let) in endothelial phenotypic heterogeneity. Arterioscl. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 24:1331-1333.
Kaufman, D.A., Albelda, S.M., Davies, P.F. 2004. Role of lateral cell-cell border location and extracellular/transmembrane domains in PECAM/CD31 mechanosensation. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. 320:1076-1081.
Simmons, C.A., Zilberberg, J., Davies, P.F. 2004. A rapid, reliable method to isolate high quality endothelial RNA from small spatially-defined locations. Annals Biomed. Eng. 32:1453-1459 (also journal cover picture)
Davies, P.F. 2004. Invited Editorial. Molecular phenotypes of atherosclerosis: Fingering the perpetrators. Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 24:1746-1747.
Simmons, C.A, Manduchi, E., Grant, G., Davies, P.F. 2005. Spatial heterogeneity of endothelial phenotypes correlates with side-specific vulnerability to calcification in normal porcine aortic valves. Circ. Research 96:792-799
Passerini, A., Shi, C., Francesco, N.M., Chuan, P., Manduchi, E., Grant, G., Stoeckert, C.J., Wray-Cahan, D., Karanian, J.W., Pritchard, W.P., and Davies, P.F. 2005. Regional determinants of arterial endothelial phenotype dominate the impact of gender or short-term exposure to a high-fat diet. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. 332:142-148.
Davies, P.F., Spaan, J.A., Krams, R. 2005. Shear Stress Biology of the Endothelium. A position paper arising from the CalTech International Biofluid Mechanics Symposium. Annals Biomed. Eng. 33:1714-1718.
Davies, P.F. 2005. Inside Blood: Hemodynamic Manipulation of eNOS In Vivo. Blood 106:12-13
Fang, Y. Romanenko, V., Shi, C., Schram, G., Davies, P.F., Nattel, S., Levitan, I. 2005. Functional expression of Kir2.x in human aortic endothelial cells: the dominant role of Kir2.2. Am. J. Physiol. 289:C1134-1144.
Fang, Y., Romanenko, V.G., Davies, P.F., Levitan, I. 2005. Flow sensitivity of inwardly-rectifying K channels in human aortic endothelium. Proc. 3rd IASTED Internatl. Conf. Biomechanics 163-167.
Magid, R., Davies, P.F. 2005. Endothelial protein kinase C isoform identity and differential activity of PKCđ in an athero-susceptible region of porcine aorta. Circ. Research 97:443-449.
Davies, P.F., Litt, M. 2006. Interdisciplinary Education: A Clinical Preceptorship Course for Undergraduate Bioengineering Students. Annals Biomed. Eng. 34:276-281.
Kalola A. Advisors: A. Karamanian, K. Ihida-Stansbury, P.F. Davies, P.L. Jones. 2006. Regulation and function of Tenascin-C in heart valve homeostasis. PennScience 5:30-33.
Fautsch, M.P., Johnson, D.H. and 2nd ARVO/Pfizer Research Institute Working Group (incl. Davies, P.F.). 2006. Aqueous humor outflow: What do we know? Where will it lead us? Invest Opthalmol Vis Sci 47:4181-4187.
DeLisser, H.M., Helmke, B.P., Cao, G., Pooler, P.M., Taichman, D., Fehrenbach, M., Zaman, A., Cui, Z., Mohan, G.S., Baldwin, H.S., Davies, P.F., Savani, R.C. 2006. Loss of PECAM-1 function impairs lung alveolization. J. Biol. Chem. 281:8724-8731.
Fang Y., Mohler E., Hsieh E., Osman H., Hashemi S., Davies, P.F., Rothblat G.H., Wilensky R. Levitan I. 2006. Hypercholesterolemia suppresses Kir channels in aortic endothelium in vitro and in vivo. Circ. Research 98:1064-1071. Accompanying Editorial by W.F. Jackson.
Davies, P.F. 2007. Hemodynamics in the determination of the endothelial phenotype and flow mechanotransduction. In: 'Endothelial Biomedicine; A Comprehensive Treatise', Ed. Aird,.W.C. Cambridge University Press. pp 230-245.
Raj, J.U., Aliferis, C., Caprioli, R.M., Cowley, A.W., Davies, P.F., et al…. 2007. Genomics and proteomics of lung disease: Conference Summary. Am. J. Physiol. 293:45-51.
Trojanowski, J.Q., Hendricks, J.C. Jedrziewski, K., Johnson, B., Michel, K.E. Hess, R.S., Cancro, M.P., Sleeper, M.M., Pignolo, R., Teff, K.L., Aguirre, G.D., Lee, V.M.-Y., Lawler, D.F., Pack, A.I., Davies, P.F. 2008. Exploring Human/Animal Intersections: Converging Lines of Evidence in Comparative Models of Aging. J. Alzheimers and Dementia, 4:1-5.
Davies, P.F. 2007. Endothelial transcriptome profiles in vivo in complex arterial flow fields. Annals Biomed. Eng. 2007 Nov 3; [Epub ahead of print] In Press.
Davies, P.F. 2007. Endothelial mechanisms of flow-mediated atheroprotection and susceptibility. Circ. Research 101:10-12.
Balmond, C., Davies, P.F., Jones, P.L., Ruy, D., Sabin, J. 2007. Cross-catalytic architectures: in conversation. In: 'Models' 306090 Books, Ed. Abruzzo,E, Ellingsen, E, Solomon, J.D., Princeton Architectural Press 11: 126-133.
Davies, P.F., Helmke, B.P. 2008. Endothelial Mechanotransduction. In: 'Cellular Mechanotransduction: Diverse Perspectives from Molecules to Tissue', Eds. Mofrad, R.K. and Kamm, R.D. Cambridge University Press. In Press
Davies, P.F., Passerini, A.G., Magid, R., Simmons, C.S. 2008. Multiscale in vivo studies of endothelial phenotypes in cardiovascular pathobiology. Trends in Cardiovasc. Medicine In Press
Guerraty, M.A., Grant, G.R., Karanian, J.W., Chiesa, O.A., Pritchard, W.P., Davies, P.F. 2008. Brief hypercholesterolemia induces side-specific protective changes in swine aortic valve endothelial phenotype. (Submitted J. Clin. Invest).
Dr. Peter F. Davies, Robinette Foundation Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, received his Ph.D. in Experimental Pathology from Cambridge University in 1975. After postdoctoral training in cellular pathology at Cambridge and at the University of Washington, Seattle, he joined the faculty at Harvard Medical School 1978-1988 during which period he was also a visiting scientist at MIT.
