Professional Bio
Anna Dikalova, PhD, is a Research Associate Professor in the Division of Genetic Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Medicine, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Dr. Dikalova received her PhD degree from the Institute of Cytology & Genetics, Novosibirsk. In 1999-2001, she received training at Laboratory of Pharmacology and Chemistry, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, NC. In 2001, she became an Instructor at Emory University, Division of Cardiology, where she received an excellent training in vascular biology and redox cell signaling. She became an expert in the studies of the critical sources of vascular oxidative stress such as NADPH oxidases and uncoupled endothelial NO synthase.
In 2011, Dr. Dikalova came to Vanderbilt as a Research Assistant Professor. In 2016, she joined the Division of Clinical Pharmacology to work on NIH Program Project “The Role of Inflammation in Cardiovascular Disease." That same year she received Grant-In-Aid award from the American Heart Association “Sirtuin 3 Inactivation and SOD2 Hyperacetylation in Vascular Oxidative Stress and Hypertension." In 2019, she was awarded a prestigious Transformational Project Award by American Heart Association “Targeting Sirt3 Expression in Vascular Dysfunction and Hypertension.”
Dr. Dikalova discovered a new role of mitochondrial deacetylase Sirt3 in endothelial dysfunction and hypertension. She showed that (i) Sirt3 level is reduced in essential hypertension, (ii) human hypertension is linked to SOD2 acetylation and inactivation due insufficient Sirt3 activity, (iii) developed new animal models to show a causative role of Sirt3 deficiency in vascular dysfunction and hypertension. Dr. Dikalova proposed Sirt3 agonists to improve the treatment of endothelial dysfunction and hypertension.
In 2021, Dr. Dikalova was promoted to Associate Professor of Medicine. She has over 80 publications, including 20 as first author. These have appeared in high impact journals in cardiovascular sciences such as Circulation, Circulation Research, JCI, PNAS and Hypertension. Dr. Dikalova’s research has played critical role in the studies of pathophysiological role of oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction in hypertension and cardiovascular diseases.
Publications
Education
MS - Novosibirsk State University, 1987
PhD - Institute of Cytology and Genetics, 1993
Fellowship - Pharmacology & chemistry - National Institute of Environmental health Sciences, 2001
Contact
Email
Kimryn.Rathmell@Vumc.Org
Address
777 Preston Research Building
2220 Pierce Ave
Nashville, TN 37232-6307