Projects per year
Personal profile
Personal profile
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.
Research interests
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.
Education/Academic qualification
Cardiovascular Medicine, Residency, Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, Rochester, MN
Jan 1 1983 → Dec 31 1986
Award Date: Dec 31 1986
Cardiovascular Medicine, Clinical Fellowship, Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, Rochester, MN
Jan 31 1983 → Jun 30 1985
Award Date: Jun 30 1985
Internal Medicine, Internship, Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, Rochester, MN
Jun 30 1980 → Dec 31 1982
Award Date: Dec 31 1982
MD, Wayne State Univ. School of Medicine
Jul 1 1976 → Jun 15 1980
Award Date: Jun 30 1980
Physiology, PhD, Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, Rochester, NY
Physiology, Research Fellowship, Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, Rochester, NY
External positions
Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine in Cardiothoracic Surgery, Weill Cornell Medical College
Research Area Keywords
- Heart & Vascular
- Regenerative Medicine
Free-text keywords
- Regenerative medicine
- Stem cell
- Vascular disease
- Endothelium
- Telomeres and Aging
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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RNA-mediated endotheliopathy in diabetic vasculopathy
7/1/24 → 6/30/31
Project: Federal Funding Agencies
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Novel platform technologies for RNA vaccines WP3: Preclinical small animal
2/1/24 → 7/31/25
Project: Non Profit
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Novel platform technologies for RNA vaccines WP4:GMP production small scale
2/1/24 → 7/31/25
Project: Non Profit
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Novel platform technologies for RNA vaccines WP2: Optimization of CircRNA
2/1/24 → 7/31/25
Project: Non Profit
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Novel platform technologies for RNA vaccines WP5: Large animal efficacy studies
2/1/24 → 7/31/25
Project: Non Profit
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Telomerase mRNA Reverses Senescence in Progeria Cells
Li, Y., Zhou, G., Bruno, I. G. & Cooke, J. P., Aug 8 2017, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 70, 6, p. 804-805 2 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › peer-review
13 Scopus citations -
Proton Pump Inhibitors Accelerate Endothelial Senescence
Yepuri, G., Sukhovershin, R., Nazari-Shafti, T. Z., Petrascheck, M., Ghebre, Y. T. & Cooke, J. P., Jun 10 2016, In: Circulation Research. 118, 12, p. e36-e42Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
116 Scopus citations -
Transdifferentiation of human fibroblasts to endothelial cells role of innate immunity
Sayed, N., Wong, W. T., Ospino, F., Meng, S., Lee, J., Jha, A., Dexheimer, P., Aronow, B. J. & Cooke, J. P., 2015, In: Circulation. 131, 3, p. 300-309 10 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
136 Scopus citations -
Unexpected effect of proton pump inhibitors: Elevation of the cardiovascular risk factor asymmetric dimethylarginine
Ghebremariam, Y. T., Lependu, P., Lee, J. C., Erlanson, D. A., Slaviero, A., Shah, N. H., Leiper, J. & Cooke, J. P., Aug 20 2013, In: Circulation. 128, 8, p. 845-853 9 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
210 Scopus citations -
Activation of innate immunity is required for efficient nuclear reprogramming
Lee, J., Sayed, N., Hunter, A., Au, K. F., Wong, W. H., Mocarski, E. S., Pera, R. R., Yakubov, E. & Cooke, J. P., Oct 26 2012, In: Cell. 151, 3, p. 547-558 12 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
282 Scopus citations
Prizes
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Best Academic/Research Team Award
Cooke, John P. (Recipient) & Sukhovershin, Roman (Recipient), May 5 2021
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Best manuscript Award for Circulation Research Journal
Cooke, John P. (Recipient), 2016
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)