Charly Lai, PhD
- Academic Title: Associate Professor
- Primary Appointment: Medicine
- Administrative Title: Director of Vascular Translational Sciences, Division of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Critical Care Medicine
Education and Training
National Defense Medical Center/Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, PhD, Biological Chemistry, 2012
University of Pittsburgh, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2015
Biosketch
Dr. Lai's research has been focused primarily on investigating pathogenesis and development of alternative therapies for effective treatment of cardiopulmonary diseases, with the particular emphasis of metabolic syndrome, pulmonary hypertension, and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (PH-HFpEF).
Dr. Lai has made several important contributions to the field of pulmonary hypertension research, which include 1) establishing the skeletal muscle-lung crosstalk in PH-HFpEF; 2) developing mouse and rat models of PH-HFpEF; 3) evaluating the effects and mechanisms of nitrite, metformin, and treprostinil in PH-HFpEF; 4) identifying candidate biomarkers and proteins associated with metabolic syndrome-induced PH-HFpEF; and 5) assessing the role of endothelial iron-sulfur (Fe-S) cluster deficiency across Group 1-3 PH.
Dr. Lai was also involved in authoring review articles presenting an up-to-date overview of PH-HFpEF and discussing current knowledge of circulating biomarkers in PH-HFpEF. In addition to the field of pulmonary hypertension research, Dr. Lai has been involved in projects exploring molecular mechanisms in age-related lung fibrosis, hyperglycemia-associated mitochondrial dysfunction, and hyperlipidemia-associated atherosclerosis.
Research/Clinical Keywords
pulmonary hypertension, Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, Skeletal muscle-lung crosstalk
Highlighted Publications
Jheng JR, Bai Y, Noda K, Huot JR, Cook T, Fisher A, Chen YY, Goncharov DA, Goncharova EA, Simon MA, Zhang Y, Forman DE, Rojas M, Machado RF, Auwerx J, Gladwin MT, Lai YC. Skeletal Muscle SIRT3 Deficiency Contributes to Pulmonary Vascular Remodeling in Pulmonary Hypertension Due to Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction. Circulation. 2024 Sep 10;150(11):867-883. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11384544.
Jheng JR, DesJardin JT, Chen YY, Huot JR, Bai Y, Cook T, Hibbard LM, Rupp JM, Fisher A, Zhang Y, Duarte JD, Desai AA, Machado RF, Simon MA, Lai YC. Plasma Proteomics Identifies B2M as a Regulator of Pulmonary Hypertension in Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2024 Jul;44(7):1570-1583. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11208054.
Lai YC, Tabima DM, Dube JJ, Hughan KS, Vanderpool RR, Goncharov DA, St Croix CM, Garcia-Ocaña A, Goncharova EA, Tofovic SP, Mora AL, Gladwin MT. SIRT3-AMP-Activated Protein Kinase Activation by Nitrite and Metformin Improves Hyperglycemia and Normalizes Pulmonary Hypertension Associated With Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction. Circulation. 2016 Feb 23;133(8):717-31. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4766041.
Awards and Affiliations
Indiana University Department of Medicine Outstanding Early Career Investigator Award, 2025
Fellow of American Heart Association (AHA), 2023
United Therapeutics Jenesis Innovative Research Award, 2018
AHA 3CPR Junior Investigator Travel Award, 2017
Gilead Sciences PAH Research Scholars Gilead Sciences Award, 2016
Munich International Lung Conference Excellence in Science Research Award, 2015
Nitric Oxide-Nitrite/Nitrate Conference 2014 Poster Prize Winner, 2014
Pittsburgh-Munich International Lung Conference Poster Award, 2014
AHA 3CPR Cournand and Comroe Young Investigator Award (Finalist), 2014
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Research Day Award, 2014
Nitrite Pathophysiology and Therapy Travel Award, Society for Redox Biology and Medicine, 2011
American Society for Cell Biology Travel Award, 2010
Poster Award, National Societies of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the Asian and Oceanian Region, 2008
Grants and Contracts
NIH/NHLBI, R01HL142638 (08/15/2018 - 06/30/2028)
Role of Skeletal Muscle SIRT3 in Pulmonary Vascular Remodeling