2008 Wylie Scholar

Dr. Sachdev’s research involves understanding the mechanisms that promote blood vessel growth and developing new therapies for people suffering from peripheral arterial disease and critical limb ischemia. Often these patients are unable to undergo treatments to open blocked vessels and face amputation as a result. Her more recent research program focuses not only on new blood vessel growth but also on mechanisms by which the muscle tissue itself responds to the ischemic injury and promotes repair. Specifically, she is understanding how an inflammatory molecule called caspaet-1 initiates release of HMGB1, a nuclear protein that helps promote new blood vessel growth. Caspase-1 is present in the muscle cells and is protective in animal models of limb ischemia. Interestingly, similar protective effects of caspase-1 are also noted in liver tissue, and she is collaborating with other members of the department of surgery whose research focuses on liver disease. She was able to successfully convert her K08 mentored clinical science award from the NHLBI to independent R01 funding in 2018, worth close to $2 million.  She has also been able to initiate a very exciting research project evaluating inflammation in varicose vein disease. In particular, she and her collaborators who have expertise in computational modeling have shown a unique pattern of inflammatory mediator expression in varicose veins. She was awarded an SVS Foundation award for this work and is pursuing research funding from the NIH to advance the work.  Her total funding since the Wylie award was granted is over $3 million.

“Since receiving the Wylie award, I have been able to obtain a Mentored Clinical Scientist Award through the NHLBI, which was matched by the SVS foundation and American college of surgeons. I was then able to transition to independent R01 funding from NHLBI to study mechanisms of HMGB1 release from ischemic muscle cells. I have also had the opportunity to expand my research focus to venous disease and received funding from SVS foundation to complete a pilot project on inflammation in varicose veins. The funding I received from the Wylie award was absolutely instrumental in propelling my research programs forward. In addition to research and clinical work, I continue to mentor medical students both locally and nationally through the SVS mentoring program and I always emphasize that my research success really started with funding through the Wylie program.”