Fernndez-Hernando named Anthony N. Brady Professor of Comparative Medicine – Yale News

Carlos Fernndez-Hernando

Carlos Fernndez-Hernando, whose work combines cell biology, genetics, and mouse models to study lipid metabolism and cardiovascular related disorders, was recently appointed the Anthony N. Brady Professor of Comparative Medicine and Pathology.

He is also a member of the Vascular Biology & Therapeutics Program and the Yale Center for Molecular Metabolism.

After earning a bachelors degree in chemistry and his Ph.D. in biochemistry/molecular biology from Universidad Autnoma de Madrid in Spain, Fernndez-Hernando completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Hospital Ramn y Cajal, Spain. He then continued his postdoctoral training with Prof. William Sessa at Yale from 2005 to 2009. Then, after starting his laboratory in the Department of Medicine at New York University, he returned to Yale in 2013.

His research aims to identify and characterize novel mechanisms by which cholesterol and lipoprotein metabolism is regulated. Work from his group identified miRNA-33a/b, an intronic miRNA encoded within the intronic sequences of SREBP genes, the master transcriptional regulators that control lipid metabolism. In a number of relevant studies his group was able to demonstrate that miRNA-33a/b provides a critical link between the regulation of cholesterol and fatty acid biosynthesis by SREBP and cholesterol efflux, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) biogenesis and fatty acid oxidation pathways. Fernndez-Hernando group and colleagues found that pharmacological inhibition of miR-33 increases hepatic ABCA1 expression, circulating HDL-C and attenuates the progression of atherosclerosis. His group has also uncovered the first non-coding RNA (miRNA-148a) that regulates plasma low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-C levels via hepatic LDLR using a genome-wide miRNA screen. These findings correlate with recent reports that identified a genetic variation in the miR-148a locus associated with plasma LDL-C and triglycerides in humans. Together, these contributions have provided novel insights about the molecular mechanisms that regulate cellular lipid homeostasis and lipoprotein metabolism.

Fernndez-Hernando has authored or co-authored more than 150 research articles, many of them in prominent journals, including Science, Nature, Nature Medicine, Cell Metabolism, Journal of Clinical Investigation and Proceding of the National Academy of Sciences, among other publications. He has been the recipient of numerous awards for his contributions in the field of lipid metabolism and vascular biology including the Irvine Page Young Investigator Award (American Heart Association), Springer Award (North American Vascular Biology Association), David L. Williams Award (Kern Lipid Conference), Established Investigator Award (American Heart Association), Jeffrey M. Hoeg Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis & Vascular Biology Award in Basic Science and Clinical Research (American Heart Association), R35EIA from NHBLI and the Folkman Award in Vascular Biology (North American Vascular Biology Association).

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Fernndez-Hernando named Anthony N. Brady Professor of Comparative Medicine - Yale News