Patrick A. Murphy, Ph.D.

Department of Cell Biology
Center for Vascular Biology and Calhoun Cardiology Center
University of Connecticut Health Center
Farmington, CT

Primary Research:

Dr. Murphy’s lab studies the post-transcriptional life of RNA, in alternative splicing, stability and localization. He is interested in the regulation of these functions by RNA-binding proteins in the endothelium during the chronic inflammatory processes found in atherosclerosis, neurodegeneration and a wide range of other pathologies. Members of the lab use a combination of bioinformatics and in vitro CRISPR screening approaches to define RNA-binding proteins of interest in endothelial activation and in vivo models to probe their endothelial functions in the cross-talk between recruited immune cells and the blood vessel wall using cutting-edge immunological and intravital imaging techniques. As alternative splicing responses are increasingly recognized in cellular stress, inflammation and immunity, and physiologic and pathologic variation among humans, he hopes his lab can contribute to understanding their endothelial functions.

Lab Web Site: https://health.uconn.edu/vascular-biology/murphy-lab/

Members of the laboratory:

Amy Kimble, Technician
Jessica Hensel, Graduate student
Sarah-Anne Nicholas, Graduate student
Emily Arciero, Medical student
Jordan Silva, Undergraduate student

Recent Publications:

• Direct CD137 costimulation of CD8 T cells promotes retention and innate-like function within nascent atherogenic foci. Xu MM, Ménoret A, Nicholas SE, Gunther S, Sundberg EJ, Zhou B, Rodriguez A, Murphy PA*, Vella AT*. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2019 April. Pubmed PMID not yet assigned.
• Activated T effector seeds: Cultivating atherosclerotic plaque through alternative activation. Xu MM, Murphy PA, Vella AT. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2019 Mar 29. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.00148.2019. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 30925075.
• Endothelial FN (Fibronectin) Deposition by α5β1 Integrins Drives Atherogenic Inflammation. Al-Yafeai Z, Yurdagul A Jr, Peretik JM, Alfaidi M, Murphy PA, Orr AW. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2018 Nov;38(11):2601-2614. doi: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.118.311705. PubMed PMID: 30354234; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6209122.
• Alternative RNA splicing in the endothelium mediated in part by Rbfox2 regulates the arterial response to low flow. Murphy, Patrick A.; Butty, Vincent L.; Boutz, Paul L., Begum, Shahinoor; Kimble, Amy L.; Sharp, Phillip A; Burge, Christopher B.; Hynes, Richard O. eLife 2018 Jan 2;7. pii: e29494.

Collaborative Relationships:

ImmunoCardiovascular Group UCONN Health (https://sites.google.com/view/icguchc/home)

Tony Vella, UCONN Health (http://facultydirectory.uchc.edu/profile?profileId=Vella-Anthony)

Wayne Orr, LSU-Shreveport (http://www.lsuhscshreveport.edu/departments/school-of-medicine/pathology/research/orr-lab)

Rong Wang, UCSF (https://wanglab.surgery.ucsf.edu/)

Chris Schaffer and Nozomi Nishimura, Cornell (https://snlab.bme.cornell.edu/)

Richard Hynes, MIT (http://web.mit.edu/hyneslab/)

Alexandra Naba, UIC (https://sites.google.com/a/uic.edu/nabalab/)

John Lamar, Albany Medical (https://sites.google.com/site/jlamarlab/)

Paul Boutz, U. of Rochester Medical Center (https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/labs/boutz.aspx)