Rhian Touyz
University of Glasgow
United Kingdom

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Dr Rhian Touyz, MBBCh, MSc(Med), PhD, is Professor and Director of the Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences (ICAMS), and BHF Chair of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Glasgow. She is also the director of the BHF Excellence Award. She is a clinician-scientist with a focus on hypertension research. She was the Canada Research Chair in Hypertension and Professor of Medicine at the Kidney Research Centre, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI)/University of Ottawa until 2011 when she moved to ICAMS. Dr Touyz received her BSc(Hons) (1980), MBBCh (1984), MSc (1986) and PhD (1992) from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship (1992-1996) at the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal, Quebec. She has received numerous awards, including the 2005 Dahl Lecture Award of the American Heart Association, the 2012 Robert M. Berne Distinguished Lecturer of the American Physiological Society and the 2013 Dr K.G. Nair Oration Award of the Indian Society of Hypertension. Dr Touyz co-chaired the Recommendations Task Force of the Canadian Hypertension Education Program (CHEP), responsible for clinical hypertension guidelines, she is on the executive of the International Society of Hypertension and she is the past President of the Canadian Hypertension Society. She is the current Chair of the Council for High Blood Pressure Research of the American Heart Association. She is the Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Science, the Deputy Editor of Hypertension and an Associate Editor of Pharmacological Reviews. She has trained many MSc and PhD students and has mentored over 20 post-doctoral fellows. Dr Touyz has published over 310 original papers and reviews. Her areas of study include clinical and experimental hypertension, signal transduction, oxidative stress, ion transport, cell biology, vascular biology, adipose tissue biology and diabetes. She has a particular interest in translational research.

Current Research

Main research interests relate to molecular, cellular and vascular mechanisms of hypertension and associated cardiovascular diseases. Pathophysiological processes associated with hypertension include alterations in the function and structure (vascular remodelling) of small arteries, which impact on cardiac, cerebral and renal function. At the cellular level vascular cells undergo proliferation, migration, contraction and inflammation, processes influenced by aberrant signalling pathways. The Touyz lab focuses on such signaling pathways in the cardiovascular systems, particularly related to tyrosine kinases (c-Src), MAP kinases, reactive oxygen species and ion channels, and spans the continuum from molecules to cells to whole animals to patients. Findings from the group have contributed to the understanding of some mechanisms of vascular injury in hypertension. In particular we identified novel proteins (Noxs) whereby free radicals cause vascular inflammation and remodelling in hypertension; elucidated mechanisms responsible for signaling through unique ion channels (TRPM6/7) in the vasculature; highlighted molecular mechanisms involving tyrosine kinases and caveolae whereby the renin-angiotensin system signals through aldosterone; characterised the role of Nox isoforms in cardiovascular and renal injury; and discovered that adipocytes play an important role in the production of aldosterone and vascular dysfunction in obesity-associated diabetes and hypertension. These contributions have utilised innovative molecular, cellular and whole animal approaches and all have relevance in human disease. Long-term goals are to discover new treatment targets through the identification of key molecules that cause vascular injury in hypertension.

Recent Papers

1. Montezano AC, Paravicini TM, Chignalia AZ, Yusuf H, Almasri M, He Y, He G, Callera GE, Krause K-H, Lambeth D, Touyz RM. Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide Phosphate Reduced Oxidase 5 (Nox5) Regulation by Angiotensin II and Endothelin-1 is Mediated via Calcium/Calmodulin-dependent Pathways in Human Endothelial Cells. Circ Res. 2010;106:1363-73.

2. Callera GE, Yogi A, Briones AM, Montezano AC, He Y, Tostes RC, Schiffrin EL, Touyz RM. Vascular proinflammatory responses by aldosterone are mediated via c-Src trafficking to cholesterol-rich microdomains: role of PDGFR. Cardiovasc Res. 2011;1;91(4):720-31.

3. Burger D, Montezano AC, Nishigaki N, He Y, Carter A and Touyz RM. Endothelial microparticle formation by angiotensin II is mediated via Ang II receptor type I/NADPH oxidase/ Rho kinase pathways targeted to lipid rafts. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2011;31(8):1898-907.

4. Nguyen Dinh Cat A, Briones AM, Callera GE, Yogi A, He Y, Montezano AC, Touyz RM. Adipocyte-derived factors regulate vascular smooth muscle cells through mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid receptors. Hypertension. 2011;58(3):479-88.

5. Briones AM, Nguyen Dinh Cat A, Callera GE, Yogi A, Burger D, He Y, Correa J, Gagnon AM, Celso E, Gomez-Sanchez CE, Gomez-Sanchez EP, Sorisky A, Ooi TC, Ruzicka M, Burns KD and Touyz RM. Adipocytes produce aldosterone through calcineurin/NFAT-dependent signaling pathway – Implications in diabetes-associated obesity. Hypertension 2012;59:1069-1078.

6. Yogi A, Callera GE, O'Connor S, Antunes TT, Valinsky W, Miquel P, Montezano AC, Perraud AL, Schmitz C, Shrier A, Touyz RM. Aldosterone signaling through transient receptor potential melastatin 7 cation channel (TRPM7) and its α-kinase domain. Cell Signal. 2013;25(11):2163-75.