Geoffrey Pickering

Geoffrey Pickering

Geoffrey Pickering, MD, PhD, FRCPC, FACC, FAHA

Dr. Pickering is a Cardiologist at the London Health Sciences Centre and a Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Biochemistry, and Medical Biophysics at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, in London, Ontario.  He is also the Co-Director of the Vascular Biology Group at the Robarts Research Institute.  He is a Fellow of the American Heart Association, a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, and a member of the Echocardiography Service at LHSC.

Dr. Pickering obtained his MD in 1983 at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and received fellowship certification in Internal Medicine and Cardiology in 1987 and 1989, respectively, from the Royal College of Physicians of Canada.  He obtained a PhD in medical biophysics at Western University in 1990.  He subsequently undertook post-doctoral training in vascular biology at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts and assumed a faculty position at that institution.

Dr. Pickering is the recipient of a number of awards and honours, including the Young Investigator Award from the Canadian Cardiovascular Society (1992), a Research Scholarship from the Medical Research Council of Canada (1993-1998), a Career Investigator Award from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (1998-2010), a Premier's Research Award of Excellence from the Government of Ontario (1999), a Dean's Award of Excellence for Research (2004), and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario/Barnett-Ivey Chair (2011).  He has been the Chair of the Cardiovascular Sciences-C panel at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Chair of the Cellular Biochemistry Panel at the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, Chair of the Clinical Advisory Committee of the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research, and Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian Hypertension Society.  He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, the Chair of the Research Committee of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, and President-Elect of the Canadian Society of Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology.

Dr. Pickering leads an internationally recognized vascular biology research program.  His research team investigates the process of angiogenesis and determines how blood vessels can safely repair themselves.  Dr. Pickering's laboratory is one of few worldwide that has successfully cloned muscle cells from human arteries and he has exploited this to discover novel genes that regulate vascular function, with implications for vascular regeneration and the prevention of heart attacks.  

Selected Publications:

  1. 1. Yin H, van der Veer E, Frontini MJ, Thibert V, O’Neil C, Watson A, Szasz P, Chu MWA, Pickering JG.  Intrinsic directionality of migrating vascular smooth muscle cells is regulated by NAD+ biosynthesis.  Journal of Cell Science.  September 19, 2012 (epub ahead of print).
  2. Beyea MC, Esmonde S, Sawyez CG, Edwards JY, Hegele RA, Pickering JG, Huff MY.  The oxysterol, 24(S),25-epoxycholesterol attenuates human smooth muscle-derived foam cell formation via reduced LDL uptake and enhanced LXR-mediated cholesterol efflux. Journal of the American Heart Association, 1:e810, 2012.
  3. Nong Z, O’Neil C, Lei M, Gros R, Watson A, Li S, Frontini  MJ, Feng Q, Pickering JG.  Type I collagen cleavage is essential for effective fibrotic repair following myocardial infarction.  American Journal of Pathology 179:2189-2198, 2011.
  4. Steinbach SK, El-Mounaryi O, DaCosta RS, Frontini MJ, Nong Z, Maeda A, Pickering JG, Miller FD, Husain M.  Directed differentiation of skin-derived precursors into functional vascular smooth muscle cells.  Arteriosclerosis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology 31:2938-2948, 2011.
  5. Gros R, Ding Q, Davis M, Shaikh R, Chorazyczewski J, Pickering JG, Feldman  RD. Delineating the receptor mechanisms underlying the rapid vascular contractile effects of aldosterone and estradiol.  Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharamcology 89:655-63, 2011.
  6. Espinosa-Tanguma R, O’Neil C, Chrones T, Pickering JG, Sims S.  Essential role for calcium waves in migration of human vascular smooth muscle cells.  American Journal of Physiology – Heart and Circulatory Physiology 301:H315-23, 2011.
  7. Frontini MJ, Nong Z, Gros R, Drangova M, O’Neil C, Rahman MN, Akawi O,  Yin H, Chris Ellis CG, Pickering JG.  Fibroblast growth factor 9 delivery during angiogenesis produces durable, vasoresponsive microvessels wrapped by smooth muscle cells.  Nature Biotechnology, 29:421-427, 2011. (Featured on the cover and in a News and Views article)
  8. Borradaile N and Pickering JG. Polyploidy impairs human aortic endothelial cell function and is prevented by nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase. American Journal of Physiology - Cell Physiology 298:C66-74, 2010.
  9. Barra L, Shum J, Pickering JG, Kao R.  Tenecteplase for ST-elevation myocardial infarction in a patient treated with drotrecogin alpha (activated) for severe sepsis.  Journal of Medical Case Reports 3:109, 2009.
  10. Ho C, van der Veer E, Akawi O, Pickering  JG. SIRT1 markedly extends replicative lifespan if the NAD+ salvage pathway is enhanced. FEBS Letters 583:3081-3085, 2009.
  11. Small TW, Pickering JG.  Nuclear degradation of Wilms’ tumor 1-associating protein and survivin splice variant switching underlie IGF-1-mediated cell survival. Journal of Biological Chemistry 284:24684-24695, 2009.
  12. Choi HY, Rahmani M, Wong BW, McManus BM, Pickering JG, Chan T, Francis GA. ABCA1 expression and apolipoprotein A-I binding are impaired in intimal-type arterial smooth muscle cells. Circulation 119:3223-31, 2009.
  13. Frontini M, O'Neil C, Sawyez C, Chan BMC, Huff M, Pickering JG. Lipid incorporation inhibits Src-dependent assembly of fibronectin and type I collagen by vascular smooth muscle cells. Circulation Research 104:832-41 2009. (Accompanied by Editorial)
  14. Borradaile N and Pickering JG.  Nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase imparts human endothelial cells with extended replicative lifespan and enhanced angiogenic capacity in a high glucose environment. Aging Cell, 8:100-112, 2009.