Above: Julia Mack, William (Will) Jones, Vanessa Freitas

The Arispe Lab bids farewell to Dr. Julia Mack, Dr. Vanessa Freitas, and former undergrad trainee William (Will) Jones.

Dr. Julia Mack was recruited to the Arispe Lab in August 2011 to develop biocompatible scaffold materials to study vasculogenesis in ED and to develop imaging techniques to investigate the effects of flow on vascular network development. This was the beginning of  long relationship that would develop into contributions towards many publications including: Macro-Scale Topology Optimization for Controlling Internal Shear Stress in a Porous Scaffold Bioreactor; Real-Time Maps of Fluid Flow Field in Porous Biomaterials; Hybrid Photopatterned Enzymatic Reaction (HyPER) for In situ Cell Manipulation; Endothelial NOTCH1 is suppressed by Circulating Lipids and Antagonizes Inflammation during Atherosclerosis; 4-D Flow Control in Porous Scaffolds: Toward a Next Generation of Bioreactors; Perivascular Macrophages Limit Permeability; Reproducible Arterial Denudation Injury by Infrarenal Abdominal Aortic Clamping in Murine Model; NOTCH1 is a Mechanosensor in Adult Arteries; NOTCH Regulation of the Endothelial Cell Phenotype; and Treating the Intestine with Oral ApoA-I Mimetic Tg6F Reduces Tumor Burden in Mouse Models of Metastatic Lung Cancer. Dr. Mack recently accepted a faculty position with DGSOM, division of Cardiology and will soon be starting her own research lab.

Will Jones joined the Lab in the Spring of 2015 and began working under the direct tutelage of Dr. Mack. After graduating in 2012 from UCLA with a BS in Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, Will decided to complete his research studying the effects of fluid flow on mature vessels and committed one more year to research in the lab. He is one of few, UCLA students who can boast about publishing while an undergrad, contributing to Nature Communications journal with NOTCH1 is a Mechanosensor in Adult Arteries.

Dr. Vanessa Freitas, professor at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, spent a Sabbatical Year at the Arispe Lab where she was immersed in signal transduction and molecular biology within the field of angiogenesis. During her time here she worked closely with Dr. Hilfenhaus and together published a review on the journal Developmental Cell titled Metastasis of Circulating Tumor Cells: Speed Matters.

We wish everyone best of luck on all future endeavors and hope they remain in touch with the lab sharing all the exciting journeys that lie ahead in their careers!

Below: Arispe Lab celebrates Dr. Mack’s new position at UCLA Division of Cardiology, and bids farewell to Dr. Freitas and Will Jones