The Goncharova Lab | Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine | Department of Internal Medicine | UC Davis Health

• The role of mTOR and HIPPO signaling networks in in pulmonary vascular cell hyper-proliferation, remodeling, and right ventricular dysfunction in pulmonary arterial hypertension.

• Lactate as a signaling molecule in PAH pathogenesis.

Elena Goncharova, Ph.D.
Professor
Director, Pulmonary Vascular Disease Program,  UC Davis Lung Center

Dmitry Goncharov, M.S.
Staff Research Associate III
Lab Manager
dgoncharov@ucdavis.edu

Lifeng Jiang, Ph.D.
Assistant Project Scientist
lfjiang@ucdavis.edu

Iryna Zhyvyo, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Project Scientist
izhyvylo@ucdavis.edu 

Tapan Dey, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Researcher
tdey@ucdavis.edu 

Derek Lin, B.S.
Lab Assistant
delin@ucdavis.edu

Aisha Saiyed
Undergraduate Researcher
asaiyed@ucdavis.edu

Sanjana Neeli
Undergraduate Researcher
sneeli@ucdavis.edu 

Maanvi Shah
Undergraduate Researcher
mkpshah@ucdavis.edu 

Leafa Si
Undergraduate Researcher
wsi@ucdavis.edu 

Alumni

Tatiana Kudryashova, Ph.D.
Current position: Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Yuanjun (Steven) Shen, Ph.D.
Current position: Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Delaware

Leyla Teos, Ph.D.
Current position: Clinical Research Coordinator, UC Davis Health

View our complete list of published works

Selected Publications

• Piper B, Bogamuwa S, Hossain T, Farkas D, Rosas L, Green AC, Newcomb G, Sun N, Ovando-Ricardez JA, Horowitz JC, Bhagwani AR, Yang H, Kudryashova TV, Rojas M, Mora AL, Yan P, Mallampalli RK, Goncharova EA, Eckmann DM, Farkas L. "RAB7 deficiency impairs pulmonary artery endothelial function and promotes pulmonary hypertension" The Journal of Clinical Investigation. 2024, 134(3):e169441. doi: 10.1172/JCI169441. PMID:
• Toyama T*, Kudryashova TV*, Ichihara A*, Lenna S, Looney A, Shen Y, Avolio T, Goncharov D, Delisser H, Lafyatis R, Seta F, Goncharova EA^#, Trojanowska M^# (*equal contribution as first authors; #equal contribution as senior authors): "GATA6 coordinates cross-talk between BMP10 and oxidative stress axis in pulmonary arterial hypertension". Scientific Reports. 2023, 13(1):6593. PMID: 37087509.
• Hafeez N, Kirillova A, Yue Y, Rao RJ, Kelly NJ, El Khoury W, Al Aaraj Y, Tai YY, Handen A, Tang Y, Jiang D, Wu T, Zhang Y, McNamara D, Kudryashova TV, Goncharova EA, Goncharov D, Bertero T, Nouraie M, Li G, Sun W, Chan SY. "Single Nucleotide Polymorphism rs9277336 Controls the Nuclear Alpha Actinin 4-Human Leukocyte Antigen-DPA1 Axis and Pulmonary Endothelial Pathophenotypes in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension". Journal of the American Heart Association. 2023, 12(7):e027894. PMID: 36974749.
• Bhagwani AR, Ali M, Piper B, Liu M, Hudson J, Kelly N, Bogamuwa S, Yang H, Londino JD, Bednash JS, Farkas D, Mallampalli RK, Nicolls MR, Ryan JJ, Thompson AAR, Chan SY, Gomez D, Goncharova EA, Farkas L. "A p53-TLR3 axis ameliorates pulmonary hypertension by inducing BMPR2 via IRF3". iScience. 2023, 26(2):105935. PMID: 36685041; PMCID: PMC9852960
• Shen Y, Goncharov DA, Pena A, Baust J, Chavez Barragan A, Ray A, Rode A, Bachman TN, Chang B, Jiang L, Dieffenbach P, Fredenburgh LE, Rojas M, DeLisser H, Mora AL, Kudryashova TV, Goncharova EA. "Cross-talk between TSC2 and the extracellular matrix controls pulmonary vascular proliferation and pulmonary hypertension". Science Signaling, 2022, 15(763):eabn2743. PMID: 36473049.  (https://www.science.org/stoken/author-tokens/ST-891/full)
• Jiang L, Goncharov DA, Shen Y, Lin D, Chang B, Pena A, DeLisser H, Goncharova EA*, Kudryashova TV*. "Akt-Dependent Glycolysis-Driven Lipogenesis Supports Proliferation and Survival of Human Pulmonary Arterial Smooth Muscle Cells in Pulmonary Hypertension". Frontiers in Medicine, 2022, 9: 886868.
• Kudryashova TV*, Dabral S*, Nayakanti S, Ray A, Goncharov DA, Avolio T, Shen Y, Rode A, Pena A, Jiang L, Lin D, Baust J, Bachman TN, Graumann J, Ruppert C, Guenther A, Schmoranzer M, Grobs Y, Eve Lemay S, Tremblay E, Breuils-Bonnet S, Boucherat O, Mora AL, DeLisser H, Zhao J, Zhao Y, Bonnet S, Seeger W, Pullamsetti SS^#, Goncharova EA^#. "Noncanonical HIPPO/MST Signaling via BUB3 and FOXO Drives Pulmonary Vascular Cell Growth and Survival". Circulation Research, 2022, 130(5):760-778.
• Satoh T, Wang L, Levine A, Hahn S, Baust J, Wyman S, Salamacha N, Wu Y, Espinosa-Diez C, Reynolds M, Shiva S, St Hilaire C, Gomez D, Goncharov DA, Goncharova EA, Straub A, Lai YC, McTiernan CF, Gladwin MT. "Metabolic syndrome mediates ROS-miR-193b-NFYA-dependent down regulation of sGC activity and contributes to exercise-induced pulmonary hypertension in HFpEF". Circulation, 2021, 144(8):615-637.
• Culley MK, Zhao J, Tai YY, Tang Y, Perk D, Negi V, Yu Q, Woodcock J, Handen A, Speyer G, Kim S, Lai YC, Satoh T, Watson A, Aaraj YA, Sembrat J, Rojas M, Goncharov D, Goncharova EA, Khan OF, Anderson DG, Dahlman JE, Gurkar A, Lafyatis R, Fayyaz A, Redfield M, Gladwin MT, Rabinovitch M, Gu M, Bertero T, Chan SY. "Frataxin deficiency promotes endothelial senescence in pulmonary hypertension". Journal of Clinical Investigation, 131(11):e136459, 2021.
• Sharifi-Sanjani M, Berman M, Goncharov D, Alhamaydeh M, Avolio TG, Baust J, Chang B, Kobir A, Ross M, St. Croix C, McTiernan C, Moravec CS, Goncharova EA*, Al Ghouleh I* (*equal senior author contribution): "Yes-associated Protein (Yap) is Up-Regulated in Heart Failure and Promotes Cardiac Fibroblast Proliferation". International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 22(11):6164, 2021.
• Daneva Z, Marziano C, Ottolini M, Chen YL, Hong K, Cope EL, Baker TM, Zhang A, Ta H, Mihalek AD,  Minshall RD, Kasetti RB, Shen Y, Zode GS, Goncharova EA, Laubach VE, Sonkusare SK. "Caveolar peroxynitrite formation impairs endothelial TRPV4 channels and elevates pulmonary arterial pressure in pulmonary hypertension". Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 118(17):e2023130118, 2021.
• Shen Y, Goncharov DA, Avolio T, Ray A, Okorie E, Mora AL, Vanderpool R, Kudryashova TV, Goncharova EA. "Differential effects of integrin-linked kinase inhibitor Cpd22 on severe pulmonary hypertension in male and female rats". Pulmonary Circulation, 10(1): 2045894019898593, 2020.
• Farkas D, Thompson AAR, Bhagwani AR, Hultman S, Ji H, Kotha N, Farr G, Arnold ND, Braithwaite A, Casbolt H, Sabroe CGEI, Monaco C, Cool CD, Goncharova EA, Lawrie A, Farkas L. "Toll-like receptor 3 is a therapeutic target for Pulmonary Hypertension". American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 199(2):199-210, 2019.
• Kudryashova TV*, Shen Y*, Pena A, Cronin E, Okorie E, Goncharov DA, Goncharova EA. "Inhibitory antibodies against Activin A and TGF-β reduce self-supported, but not soluble factors-induced growth of human pulmonary arterial vascular smooth muscle cells in pulmonary arterial hypertension". International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 19(10), 2957, 2018.
• Goncharov DA, Goncharova EA, Tofovic SP, Hu J, Baust JJ, Pena AZ, Ray A, Rode A, Vanderpool RR, Mora AL, Gladwin MT, Lai YC. "Metformin Therapy for Pulmonary Hypertension Associated with Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction versus Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension". American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 198(5):681-684, 2018.
• Pena A*, Kobir A*, Goncharov D, Goda A, Vanderpool R, Baust J, Chang B, Mora AL, Gorcsan J III, Goncharova EA. "Pharmacological inhibition of mTOR kinase reverses right ventricle remodeling and improves right ventricle structure and function in rats". American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, 57(5):615-625, 2017.
• Kudryashova TV*, Goncharov DA*, Pena A, Kelly N, Vanderpool R, Baust J, Kobir A, Shufesky W, Mora AL, Morelli AE, Zhao J, Ihida-Stansbury K, Chang B, DeLisser H, Tuder RM, Kawut SM, Silljé HHW, Shapiro S, Zhao Y, Goncharova EA. "HIPPO-integrin linked kinase crosstalk controls self-sustaining proliferation and survival in pulmonary hypertension". American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 194(7):866-877, 2016.
• Goncharov DA, Kudryashova TV, Ziai H, Ihida-Stansbury K, DeLisser H, Krymskaya VP, Tuder RM, Kawut SM, Goncharova EA. "mTORC2 coordinates pulmonary artery smooth muscle cell metabolism, proliferation and survival in pulmonary arterial hypertension". Circulation, 129(8):864-74, 2014.

Reviews and Editorials

• Agarwal S, Fineman J, Cornfield DN, Alvira CM, Zamanian RT, Goss K, Yuan K, Bonnet S, Boucherat O, Pullamsetti S, Alcázar MA, Goncharova E, Kudryashova TV, Nicolls MR, de Jesús Pérez V. "Viewing pulmonary hypertension through a pediatric lens". European Respiratory Journal, 2024. 2301518. doi: 10.1183/13993003.01518-2023. PMID: 38575157.
• Kudryashova TV, Jiang L, Goncharova "What Is All of the Hype About? Hypusine Signaling as a Driver of Pulmonary Hypertension". American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 2024. doi.org/10.1164/rccm.202401-0195ED. PMID: 38412504.
• Goncharova EA, Kudryashova TV, de Jesus Perez V, Rafikova O. "UnWNTing the Heart: Targeting WNT Signaling in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension". Circulation Research, 2023, 132:1486-1488. PMCID: PMC10213998
• Kudryashova TV, Goncharova EA. "MonOrail to Cure? Targeting Orai1 to Reverse Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension". Circulation Research, 2022 Oct 14;131(9):728-730. doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.122.321924. Epub 2022 Oct 13. PubMed PMID: 36252052; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9586488. 
• Goncharova EA, Farkas L. "Stem Cell-derived Nanovesicles for the Treatment of Pulmonary Hypertension: Are We There Yet?" American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, 2022 Jul;67(1):3-5. doi: 10.1165/rcmb.2022-0078ED. PubMed PMID: 35522729; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9273228.
• Goncharova EA, Chan SY, Ventetuolo SE, Weissmann N, Schermuly RT, Mullin CJ, Gladwin MT. "Update in pulmonary vascular diseases and right ventricular dysfunction in 2019­". American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 202(1):22-28, 2020.
• Goncharova EA, Simon MA, Yuan JXJ. "mTORC1 in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: at the crossroads between vasoconstriction and vascular remodeling?". American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 201(10):1177-1179, 2020.
• Spiekerkoetter E, Goncharova EA, Guignabert C, Stenmark K, Kwapiszewska G, Rabinovitch M, Voelkel N, Bogaard HJ, Graham B, Pullamsetti SS, Kuebler WM. "Hot topics in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Disease Mechanisms: Cancer-like pathobiology, the role of the adventitia, systemic involvement, and right ventricular failure". Pulmonary Hypertension, 9(4):2045894019889775, 2019.
• Lai YC, Provencher S., Goncharova EA. "TAKling GDF-15 and Skeletal Muscle Atrophy in Pulmonary Hypertension: Are We There Yet?"  Thorax, 74(2):103-105, 2019.
• Shen Y and Goncharova EA. "TWISTed HIF: Re-visiting Smooth Muscle HIF-1α Signaling in Pulmonary Hypertension". American Journal of Physiology:Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology, 315(3):L387-L389, 2018.
• Pullamsetti SS, Savai R, Seeger W, Goncharova EA. "Translational Advances in the field of Pulmonary Hypertension. From cancer biology to new PAH therapeutics: Targeting cell growth and proliferation signaling hubs". American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 195(4):425-437, 2017.
• Goncharova EA, Gladwin MT, Kawut SM. "Update in Pulmonary Vascular Diseases 2014". American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 192(5): 544-550, 2015.
• Goncharova EA. "mTOR and vascular remodeling in lung diseases: current challenges and therapeutic prospects". The FASEB Journal, 27(5): 1796-1807, 2013.

• January to February 2024: Congratulations to Dr. Jiang for receiving the UC Davis Department of Internal Medicine 2024 Professional Research Award in the Outstanding Poster category and UC Davis Academic Federation Research Travel Grant for PVRI 2024 Annual Congress.
• November 2023: Big congratulations to Dr. Jiang on receiving the Cardiopulmonary, Critical Care, Perioperative, and Resuscitation (3CPR) Junior Investigator Travel Grants for the American Heart Association 2023 Scientific Sessions in Philadelphia. The abstract submitted by Dr. Jiang was ranked among the top 3 scoring PAH Biology Abstracts for 3CPR and was selected as one of six participants at the 2023 "Swimming with the Sharks" Early Career event. Well done, Lifeng!
• November 2023: Congratulations to Dr. Goncharova on being named an associate editor for the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine! Meet the New AJRCMB Editors.

• May 2023: Big congratulations to Dr. Jiang on the Abstract Scholarship Award from the Pulmonary Circulation Assembly of the American Thoracic Society 2023 International Conference in Washington DC. This is the second abstract scholarship award received by Dr. Jiang from the ATS PC Assembly! Well done, Lifeng!
  
• April 2023: Our paper, "GATA6 coordinates cross-talk between BMP10 and oxidative stress axis in pulmonary arterial hypertension", was published in the Scientific Reports! Congratulations to the first author Dr. Tatiana Kudryashova and team! Learn more about this study here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-33779-8
  
• April 2023: Congratulations to Dr. Shen on receiving the NIH/NHLBI K99/R00 award to study the role of VPS34 in pulmonary arterial hypertension!
• February 2023: Congratulations to Dr. Kudryashova on receiving the NIH/NHLBI R01 award to study the role of HIPK2 signaling in pulmonary arterial hypertension!
• December 2022: Our paper, "Cross-talk between TSC2 and the extracellular matrix controls pulmonary vascular proliferation and pulmonary hypertension", was published in the Science Signaling and placed on the cover of the magazine! Congratulations to Steve Shen, Dmitry Goncharov, and the team! Learn more at https://www.science.org/stoken/author-tokens/ST-891/full
  
• June 2022: Please read our recent paper in the Frontiers in Medicine titled "Akt-Dependent Glycolysis-Driven Lipogenesis Supports Proliferation and Survival of Human Pulmonary Arterial Smooth Muscle Cells in Pulmonary Hypertension". Learn more at https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2022.886868/full
  
• May 2022: Congratulations to Dr. Jiang (first author) and Dr. Kudryashova (senior author) on the Abstract Scholarship Award from the Pulmonary Circulation Assembly of the American Thoracic Society 2022 International Conference in San Francisco. Well done and well deserved!
  
• March 2022: Congratulations to Dr. Jiang on his Rapid Talk Presentation Award from the 7th Annual Postdoctoral Research Symposium of UC Davis.
• March 2022: Congratulations to Dr. Shen on the President's Award from the California Thoracic Society 2022 Annual Educational Conference!
  
• March 2022: Congratulations to Dr. Shen on the UC Davis PSA Travel Award! 
• February 2022: Please read our recent paper in the Circulation Research on the novel role of MST1/2 in pulmonary hypertension! The study led by Drs. Kudryashova, Dabral & colleagues report that MST1 act as pro-proliferative and pro-survival molecules via BUB3 and FOXO in PAH pulmonary vasculature. Learn more at http://ow.ly/S5Co30sc7hw
  
• November 2021: Dr. Goncharova was recognized as an Expertscape Expert in in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.
• August 2021: Congratulations to Dr. Shen on the American Heart Association Postdoctoral Award and the Jane Morse Award from the American Thoracic Society Pulmonary Circulation Assembly! Well done, Steve!