Victor Garcia, Ph.D. '15

Assistant Professor, Pharmacology Biomedical Sciences
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Victor Garcia, Ph.D. '15, has a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry with emphasis in pharmacology, hypertension, receptor biology, vascular biology, and molecular biology. 

Dr. Garcia's lab is focused on the role of the vasoactive cytochrome P450 (CYP)-derived eicosanoid, 20-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (20-HETE) and its recently identified high-affinity G-protein coupled receptor (GCR), GPR75. Understanding the 20-HETE/GPR75 pairing and how GPR75 mutations exhibit altered or disrupted receptor signaling will shed light as to how to better target GPR75, laying the necessary foundation for the development of novel receptor blockers that have the potential to treat diseases such as chronic kidney disease, hypertension, heart failure and obesity; all of which are associated with elevations in 20-HETE.

Education

  • B.A., Biology, General, Drew University
  • M.S., Pharmacology, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
  • Ph.D. '15, Pharmacology, New York Medical College
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship, Pharmacology, Yale University

Research

  • The 20-Hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (20-HETE) Receptor (GPR75)
  • Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 1(PAI-1) and Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase (eNOS)

Publications

  • Matsumura S, Signoretti C, Fatehi S, Tumenbayar BI, D'Addario C, Nimmer E, Thomas C, Viswanathan T, Wolf A, Garcia V, Rocic P, Bae Y, Alam SS, Gupte SA. Loss-of-function G6PD variant moderated high-fat diet-induced obesity, adipocyte hypertrophy, and fatty liver in male rats. J Biol Chem. 2024 Jul;300(7):107460. doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2024.107460. Epub 2024 Jun 12. PubMed PMID: 38876306; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11328872.
  • Leahy C, Osborne N, Shirota L, Rote P, Lee YK, Song BJ, Yin L, Zhang Y, Garcia V, Hardwick JP. The fatty acid omega hydroxylase genes (CYP4 family) in the progression of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD): An RNA sequence database analysis and review. Biochem Pharmacol. 2024 May 1;:116241. doi: 10.1016/j.bcp.2024.116241. [Epub ahead of print] Review. PubMed PMID: 38697309.
  • Hossain S, Gilani A, Pascale J, Villegas E, Diegisser D, Agostinucci K, Kulaprathazhe MM, Dirice E, Garcia V, Schwartzman ML. Gpr75-deficient mice are protected from high-fat diet-induced obesity. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2023 Apr;31(4):1024-1037. doi: 10.1002/oby.23692. Epub 2023 Feb 28. PubMed PMID: 36854900; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10033368.
  • Pascale JV, Wolf A, Kadish Y, Diegisser D, Kulaprathazhe MM, Yemane D, Ali S, Kim N, Baruch DE, Yahaya MAF, Dirice E, Adebesin AM, Falck JR, Schwartzman ML, Garcia V. 20-Hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (20-HETE): Bioactions, receptors, vascular function, cardiometabolic disease and beyond. Adv Pharmacol. 2023;97:229-255. doi: 10.1016/bs.apha.2023.01.002. Epub 2023 Feb 24. PubMed PMID: 37236760; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10683332.
  • Li K, Yu XH, Maskey AR, Musa I, Wang ZZ, Garcia V, Guo A, Yang N, Srivastava K, Dunkin D, Li JX, Guo L, Cheng YC, Yuan H, Tiwari R, Li XM. Cytochrome P450 3A4 suppression by epimedium and active compound kaempferol leads to synergistic anti-inflammatory effect with corticosteroid. Front Pharmacol. 2022;13:1042756. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.1042756. eCollection 2022. PubMed PMID: 36793921; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9922998.
  • Publisher Correction: The importance of "Fit": an interview with Victor Garcia on vascular biology and enjoying the scientific journey. Commun Biol. 2022 May 5;5(1):443. doi: 10.1038/s42003-022-03386-w. PubMed PMID: 35513497; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9072420.
  • McClung JA, Levy L, Garcia V, Stec DE, Peterson SJ, Abraham NG. Heme-oxygenase and lipid mediators in obesity and associated cardiometabolic diseases: Therapeutic implications. Pharmacol Ther. 2022 Mar;231:107975. doi: 10.1016/j.pharmthera.2021.107975. Epub 2021 Sep 6. Review. PubMed PMID: 34499923; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8958338.
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Memberships and Affiliations

  • Member, American Physiological Society (APS)
  • Member, American Heart Association (AHA)