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Galvan Lab

Veronica Galvan Hart, PhD
Professor

Lab focus

Dr. Galvan's research focuses on the molecular and biochemical processes that lead to dementia in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other neurological disorders of aging. She has generated models of Alzheimer's and used them to identify novel mechanisms of neurodegeneration. Dr. Galvan pioneered the study of mechanisms that link brain aging to the pathogenesis of AD and other dementias. Her laboratory identified the mammalian-target of rapamycin (mTOR) as a central driver of disease in surrogate models of AD and vascular cognitive impairment, providing the first evidence for a role of a molecular mediator of aging in the etiology of AD and related dementias. Dr. Galvan's laboratory also provided the first description of pathogenic forms of tau in brain microvasculature of Alzheimer's and other tauopathies.

Faculty Bio

Veronica Galvan Hart, PhD

Geroscience College of Medicine
Department of Biochemistry & Physiology
Professor
Donald W. Reynolds Endowed Chair of Aging Research
Co-Director of Center for Geroscience and Healthy Brain Aging

Dr. Galvan is Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Donald W. Reynolds Endowed Chair of Aging Research at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. She serves as Director of the NIA P30 Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging, is Co-Director of the NIA P20 Center of Excellence in Biomedical Research (CoBRE), and Co-Director of the Oklahoma Geroscience and Healthy Brain Aging at OUHSC. Dr. Galvan’s research program has been continuously funded since 2007 by NIH, the US Department of Veterans Affairs, and by non-federal funding agencies. She has contributed new intellectual property to five U.S. patents and applications. Dr. Galvan is a Fellow of the American Aging Association and has received prestigious awards including but not limited to a Lucille P. Markey Scholarship in Biomedical Sciences, a Young Investigator Award from the Ellison Medical Foundation, and a John D. French Alzheimer’s Foundation Fellowship. Dr. Galvan has contributed 85 scientific publications, some cited over 1000 times, with h-index=51 and over 8,000 total citations. Dr. Galvan is member of the Board of Directors of the American Aging Association, served as its President (2021-2022) and is Editor-in-Chief of Geroscience, the Journal of the American Aging Association.

Publications

Spilman P, Podlutskaya N, Hart MJ, Debnath J, Gorostiza O, Bredesen D, Richardson A, Strong R and Galvan V (2010) Rapamycin abolishes cognitive deficits and reduces Aβ levels in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. PLoS One 5:e9979. PMCID: PMC2848616 1009 citations F1000 recommended  

Van Skike CE, Hussong SA, Hernandez SF, Banh AQ, DeRosa N and Galvan V (2021) mTOR attenuation with rapamycin reverses neurovascular uncoupling and memory deficits in mice modeling Alzheimer’s disease. J Neurosci 41:4305-4320. J Neuroscience Featured Research  

Van Skike CE, Lin AL, Roberts Burbank R, Halloran JJ, Hernandez SF, Cuvillier J, Soto VY, Hussong SA, Javors MA, Hart MJ, Fischer KE, Austad SN, Galvan V (2020) mTOR drives cerebrovascular, synaptic, and cognitive dysfunction in normative aging. Aging Cell 19:e13057. PMCID:PMC6974719.  

Castillo-Carranza DL, Nilson AN, Van Skike CE, Jahrling JB, Patel K, Garach P, Gerson JE, Sengupta U, Abisambra J, Nelson P, Troncoso J, Ungvari Z, Galvan V and Kayed R (2017) Cerebral microvascular accumulation of tau oligomers in Alzheimer’s disease and related tauopathies. Aging Dis. 8: 257-266. PMCID:PMC5966773.  

Lin A, Halloran JJ, Burbank RR, Korde S, Zheng W, Hussong SA, Podlutskaya N, Strong R, Richardson A, Hart MJ, Fox PT, Lechleiter J, Galvan V (2013). Chronic rapamycin restores brain vascular density and function through NO synthase activation and improves memory in symptomatic mice modeling Alzheimer’s disease. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 33:1412-21. PMCID: PMC3764385 175 citations

Current Funding

1RF1 AG068283-01 (Galvan, Van Remmen) 09/15/20 – 09/14/25
Tau-induced astrocyte senescence in Alzheimer's disease
Role: PI/MPI

P30AG050911-08 (Galvan) 06/01/20 - 05/31/25
NIH/NIA
Oklahoma Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging
Role: PI/MP

5I01BX002211-06 Galvan (PI) 10/01/19 – 12/30/23
VA Research and Development Merit Award
Pathogenic Tau Promotes Brain Vascular Dysfunction in Alzheimer's Disease

Contact Information

Phone: (405) 271-2227 x32778

Email: veronica-galvanhart@ouhsc.edu

Mailing address:
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
840 Stanton L. Young Blvd, BMSB 821
Oklahoma City, OK 73104

Office location: BMSB 821

Lab location: BMSB 810

PubMed Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1jkK1ehNbwzQp/bibliography/public/