Carola Y. Förster and Michiaki Nagai
University of Wurzburg, Germany Hiroshima City Asa Hospital, Japan
Biography
Carola Y Forster has a convincing track record in neurophysiology with a strong focus on the dysfunctions of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). A significant aspect of her research is related to regulation of gene expression at the BBB, specifically by non-coding RNA, particular microRNA, to offer pharmacological solutions to the observed BBB alterations. For this, she systematically studies the mechanisms from gene regulation, through transcription, to protein degradation and cellular morphology, linking basic science with clinical aspects. After years of experience in research, evaluation, teaching and administration both in hospital and education institutions, she developed different in vitro and in vivo models of cerebrovascular disease and established recently a division of computational model to further strengthen this area of research.
Michiaki Nagai has completed his graduation from the Jichi Medical University School of Medicine and has been engaged in the cardiovascular medicine. Using volumetric analysis in MR SPGR imaging, he has been investigating the fields for target hypertensive organ damages including the relationships among hypertension, blood pressure variability, brain atrophy, cognitive impairment and central autonomic nervous system including the insular cortex. He was engaged in the Interventional Cardiology at Hiroshima City Asa Hospital as the Vice Director. He won the Japanese Society of Hypertension Award in the International Society of Hypertension 2006, the Young Investigator’s Award in the 8th Japanese Neurocardiology Workshop 2007 and Young Scientist Award in the second annual scientific forum of clinical hypertension of the Japanese Society of Hypertension 2013.