Guiling Zhao

https://www.medschool.umaryland.edu/profiles/Zhao-Guiling/

Dr. Guiling Zhao is a Research Assistant Professor in Physiology Department and the Center of Biomedical Engineer and Technology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore. She received her Ph.D. from Southern Medical University (ex. First Military Medical University), Guangzhou, China.

During her training in graduate school and as a postdoc, Dr. Guiling Zhao’s research is focused on investigating the cellular and molecular mechanisms under which cardiovascular function is regulated by calcium, calcium related proteins and ion channels in physiology and pathophysiology. She has discovered that type 1 IP3R (inositol trisphosphate receptor) is dominant in cerebral artery smooth muscle cells and that it regulates the vasoconstriction and dilatation, not only through calcium release from SR (sarcoplasmic reticulum), but also through crosstalk with plasma membrane ion channels (i.e. BKCa, TRPC3). Dr. Zhao also discovered that STIM1 (stromal interaction molecule 1), a calcium sensitive protein located in SR, regulates SERCA (Sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATPase) activity in the steady state and the rate of SR Ca2+ leak in ventricular myocytes.

As a faculty in University of Maryland School of Medicine, Dr. Zhao’s current work centers on the regulation of blood flow control under microcirculation in the heart, using the unique working models and tools she has developed. She has found that ATP-sensitive K+ Channels (KATP) in cardiac myocyte drive the local blood flow through Electro-Metabolic signaling.