In This Section

Victor Rizzo, PhD, FAHA

Professor, Biomedical Education and Data Science
Professor, Cardiovascular Research Center
Professor, Sol Sherry Thrombosis Research Center
Professor, Cardiovascular Sciences

Victor Rizzo
Contact Information

Contact Information

Phone

215-707-9863

Email

victor.rizzo@temple.edu

Office

MERB 1048
About Me

Research Interests

The long-range goal of the Rizzo lab is to uncover the molecular signaling mechanisms that contribute to vascular dysfunction and associated large vessel disease such as atherosclerosis and aneurysm formation. Our studies center on organelles and their role as signaling microdomains in endothelial and vascular smooth muscle cells. Past discoveries from the Rizzo lab have revealed that caveolae function as a hemodynamic flow-sensing and signal transducing organelles as well as redox signaling centers. This work has contributed to the current concept that caveolae serve as crucial regulatory elements that mediate vascular cell responses to pathogenic risk factors for cardiovascular disease (i.e., disturbed flow, inflammatory cytokines). More recent and ongoing projects focus on the role of mitochondrial and extracellular vesicle signaling in settings associated with both vascular heath and disease. Trainees are offered the opportunity to evaluate the physiologic and pathophysiologic processes of organelle signaling using modern techniques in microscopy, biochemistry, proteomics, cell biology and molecular genetic methodologies as well as unique in vivo and in vitro approaches.   

Education, Training & Credentials

Educational Background

  • Postdoctoral Fellowship, Mechanotransduction, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship, Caveolae, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA
  • PhD, Cell Biology, Angiogenesis, New Jersey Medical School
  • BS, Biology, Farleigh Dickinson University
Publications

Digital Bibliography

View PubMed Publications

DeFouw DO, Rizzo VJ, Steinfeld R and Feinberg RN: Mapping of the microcirculation in the chick  chorioallantoic membrane during normal angiogenesis.  Microvasc. Res. 38:136-147, 1989

Rizzo V, Steinfeld R, Kyriakides C and DeFouw DO:  The microvascular unit of the 6-day chick choriallantoic membrane: A fluorescent confocal microscopic and ultrastructural morphometric analysis of endothelial permselectivity. Microvasc. Res. 46:320-332, 1993.

Rizzo V and DeFouw DO:  Macromolecular selectivity of chick chorioallantoic membrane microvessels during normal angiogenesis and endothelial differentiation. Tissue and Cell 25:847-856, 1993... Expand