John P. Cooke

John P. Cooke, MD, PhD

Joseph C. “Rusty” Walter and Carole Walter Looke Presidential Distinguished Chair in Cardiovascular Disease Research, Department of Cardiovascular Sciences
Chair, Department of Cardiovascular Sciences
Professor of Cardiovascular Sciences, Academic Institute
Full Member, Research Institute
Director, Center for Cardiovascular Regeneration
Medical Director, Center for RNA Therapeutics
Houston Methodist
Weill Cornell Medical College


Center for Cardiovascular Regeneration


Biography

Dr. John P. Cooke is the Chair of the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences at the Houston Methodist Research Institute, Director of the Center for Cardiovascular Regeneration, and Medical Director of the RNA Therapeutics Program in the Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center in Houston, Texas.

He trained in cardiovascular medicine and obtained a Ph.D. in physiology at the Mayo Clinic. He was recruited to Harvard Medical School as an assistant professor of medicine. In 1990, he was recruited to Stanford University to spearhead the program in vascular biology and medicine, and was appointed professor in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine, and associate director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute until his recruitment to Houston Methodist in 2013.

Dr. Cooke has published over 500 research papers, position papers, reviews, book chapters and patents in the arena of vascular medicine and biology with over 30,000 citations. He has served on national and international committees that deal with cardiovascular diseases, including the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, Society for Vascular Medicine, and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. He has served as president of the Society for Vascular Medicine, as a director of the American Board of Vascular Medicine, and as an associate editor of Vascular Medicine.

Description of Research

Dr. Cooke’s research program is focused on vascular regeneration, vascular cell identity and cell fate. The program is funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, Cancer Prevention Research Institute, and industry.

The Cooke group aims to understand the mechanisms underlying epigenetic plasticity that are required for functional adaptation to cellular challenges.  Innate immune signaling causes global changes in the expression and activity of epigenetic modifiers with metabolic coupling that favors an open chromatin configuration.  The translational output of this work is vascular regeneration via therapeutic transdifferentiation using small molecules or mRNA. In his 25 years of translational vascular biology, Dr. Cooke first described and characterized the anti-atherogenic effects of endothelium-derived nitric oxide; the anti-angiogenic effect of the NO synthase inhibitor ADMA; the angiogenic pathway mediated by endothelial nicotinic acetylcholine receptors; the role for this pathway in states of pathological angiogenesis; and developed an antagonist of the pathway that was tested in clinical trials. His clinical research group has explored the use of angiogenic agents and adult stem cells in the treatment of peripheral arterial disease. More recently, his group has generated and characterized vascular cells diferentiated from iPSCs of patients with Progeria, to understand the role of telomere erosion in this condition of accelerated aging and vascular death. His group's applicaiton of mRNA encoding human telomerase to reverse aging in this condition, and other age-related diseases, is promising.

Areas Of Expertise

Regenerative medicine Stem cell Vascular disease Endothelium Telomeres and Aging
Education & Training

Clinical Fellowship, Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, Rochester, MN
Residency, Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, Rochester, MN
Internship, Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, Rochester, MN
MD, Wayne State Univ. School of Medicine
PhD, Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, Rochester, NY
Research Fellowship, Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, Rochester, NY
Publications

Design and rationale of re-energize fontan: Randomized exercise intervention designed to maximize fitness in fontan patients
Selamet Tierney, ES, Palaniappan, L, Leonard, M, Long, J, Myers, J, Dávila, T, Lui, MC, Kogan, F, Olson, I, Punn, R, Desai, M, Schneider, LM, Wang, CH, Cooke, JP & Bernstein, D 2023, , American Heart Journal, vol. 259, pp. 68-78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ahj.2023.02.006

A relay velocity model infers cell-dependent RNA velocity
Li, S, Zhang, P, Chen, W, Ye, L, Brannan, KW, Le, NT, Abe, JI, Cooke, JP & Wang, G 2023, , Nature Biotechnology. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-023-01728-5

Long noncoding RNA LEENE promotes angiogenesis and ischemic recovery in diabetes models
Tang, X, Luo, Y, Yuan, D, Calandrelli, R, Malhi, NK, Sriram, K, Miao, Y, Lou, CH, Tsark, W, Tapia, A, Chen, AT, Zhang, G, Roeth, D, Kalkum, M, Wang, ZV, Chien, S, Natarajan, R, Cooke, JP, Zhong, S & Chen, ZB 2023, , Journal of Clinical Investigation, vol. 133, no. 3, e161759. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI161759

Coronary Microvascular Health in Patients With Prior COVID-19 Infection
Ahmed, AI, Saad, JM, Han, Y, Alahdab, F, Malahfji, M, Nabi, F, Mahmarian, JJ, Cooke, JP, Zoghbi, WA & Al-Mallah, MH 2022, , JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging, vol. 15, no. 12, pp. 2153-2155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcmg.2022.07.006

Radiation therapy induces immunosenescence mediated by p90RSK
Imanishi, M, Cheng, H, Kotla, S, Deswal, A, Le, N-T, Chini, E, Ko, KA, Samanthapudi, VSK, Lee, L-L, Herrmann, J, Xu, X, Reyes-Gibby, C, Yeung, S-CJ, Schadler, KL, Yusuf, SW, Liao, Z, Nurieva, R, Amir, E-AD, Burks, JK, Palaskas, NL, Cooke, JP, Lin, SH, Kobayashi, M, Yoshimoto, M & Abe, J-I 2022, , Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine, vol. 9, pp. 988713. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcvm.2022.988713

Radiation therapy induces immunosenescence mediated by p90RSK
Imanishi, M, Cheng, H, Kotla, S, Deswal, A, Le, NT, Chini, E, Ko, KA, Samanthapudi, VSK, Lee, LL, Herrmann, J, Xu, X, Reyes-Gibby, C, Yeung, SCJ, Schadler, KL, Yusuf, SW, Liao, Z, Nurieva, R, Amir, EAD, Burks, JK, Palaskas, NL, Cooke, JP, Lin, SH, Kobayashi, M, Yoshimoto, M & Abe, JI 2022, , Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine, vol. 9, 988713. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcvm.2022.988713

Endothelial thioredoxin interacting protein (TXNIP) modulates endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation in hyperglycemia
Lam, YT, Tan, RP, Michael, P, Yang, N, Dunn, LL, Cooke, JP, Celermajer, DS, Wise, SG & Ng, MKC 2022, , Microvascular Research, vol. 143, 104396. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mvr.2022.104396

MAGI1 inhibits interferon signaling to promote influenza A infection
Wang, Y, Abe, JI, Chau, KM, Wang, Y, Vu, HT, Reddy Velatooru, L, Gulraiz, F, Imanishi, M, Samanthapudi, VSK, Nguyen, MTH, Ko, KA, Lee, LL, Thomas, TN, Olmsted-Davis, EA, Kotla, S, Fujiwara, K, Cooke, JP, Zhao, D, Evans, SE & Le, NT 2022, , Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine, vol. 9, no. 36082118, 791143, pp. 791143. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcvm.2022.791143, https://doi.org/10.3389/fcvm.2022.791143

MAGI1 inhibits interferon signaling to promote influenza A infection
Wang, Y, Abe, J-I, Chau, KM, Wang, Y, Vu, HT, Reddy Velatooru, L, Gulraiz, F, Imanishi, M, Samanthapudi, VSK, Nguyen, MTH, Ko, KA, Lee, L-L, Thomas, TN, Olmsted-Davis, EA, Kotla, S, Fujiwara, K, Cooke, JP, Zhao, D, Evans, SE & Le, N-T 2022, , Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine, vol. 9, no. 36082118, pp. 791143. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcvm.2022.791143

At the nexus of science, engineering, and medicine: Pasteur's quadrant reconsidered
Pettigrew, RI & Cooke, JP 2022, , PNAS nexus, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. pgac092. https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac092

Vascular senescence in progeria: role of endothelial dysfunction
Xu, Q, Mojiri, A, Boulahouache, L, Morales, E, Walther, BK & Cooke, JP 2022, , European heart journal open, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. oeac047. https://doi.org/10.1093/ehjopen/oeac047

Vascular senescence in progeria: role of endothelial dysfunction
Xu, Q, Mojiri, A, Boulahouache, L, Morales, E, Walther, BK & Cooke, JP 2022, , European Heart Journal Open, vol. 2, no. 4. https://doi.org/10.1093/ehjopen/oeac047

Cardiac Shockwave Therapy – A Novel Therapy for Ischemic Cardiomyopathy?
Graber, M, Nägele, F, Hirsch, J, Pölzl, L, Schweiger, V, Lechner, S, Grimm, M, Cooke, JP, Gollmann-Tepeköylü, C & Holfeld, J 2022, , Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine, vol. 9, 875965. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcvm.2022.875965

Biomimetic Collagen Membranes Functionalized with mRNA-loaded Lipid Nanoparticles for Fibroblast Transdifferentiation to Endothelial Cells
Villarreal-Leal, RA, Williams, ME, Taraballi, F, Cooke, JP & Corradetti, B 2022, , FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, vol. 36. https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.2022.36.S1.L7813

Cancer treatment-induced NAD+ depletion in premature senescence and late cardiovascular complications
Banerjee, P, Olmsted-Davis, EA, Deswal, A, Nguyen, MT, Koutroumpakis, E, Palaskas, NL, Lin, SH, Kotla, S, Reyes-Gibby, C, Yeung, S-CJ, Yusuf, SW, Yoshimoto, M, Kobayashi, M, Yu, B, Schadler, K, Herrmann, J, Cooke, JP, Jain, A, Chini, E, Le, N-T & Abe, J-I 2022, , The journal of cardiovascular aging, vol. 2. https://doi.org/10.20517/jca.2022.13

RBFOX2 is required for establishing RNA regulatory networks essential for heart development
Verma, SK, Deshmukh, V, Thatcher, K, Belanger, KAK, Rhyner, AM, Meng, S, Holcomb, RJ, Bressan, M, Martin, JF, Cooke, JP, Wythe, JD, Widen, SG, Lincoln, J & Kuyumcu-Martinez, MN 2022, , Nucleic Acids Research, vol. 50, no. 4, pp. 2270-2286. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkac055

Emerging nanotechnologies in cardiovascular medicine
Grattoni, A & Cooke, JP 2022, , Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology, and Medicine, vol. 39, 102472. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nano.2021.102472

Free Cholesterol Bioavailability and Atherosclerosis
Abe, RJ, Abe, JI, Nguyen, MTH, Olmsted-Davis, EA, Mamun, A, Banerjee, P, Cooke, JP, Fang, L, Pownall, H & Le, NT 2022, , Current Atherosclerosis Reports, vol. 24, no. 5, pp. 323-336. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11883-022-01011-z

Hospital-Based RNA Therapeutics
Damase, TR, Sukhovershin, R, Zhang, M, Kiss, DL & Cooke, JP 2022, . in RNA Technologies. RNA Technologies, vol. 13, Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, pp. 73-92. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08415-7_4

Future Impact of mRNA Therapy on Cardiovascular Diseases
Cooke, JP & Youker, KA 2022, , Methodist DeBakey cardiovascular journal, vol. 18, no. 5, pp. 64-73. https://doi.org/10.14797/mdcvj.1169