NO Society Council Members
Miriam Cortese-Krott
Miriam M. Cortese-Krott is an internationally recognized expert in cardiovascular pharmacology, specializing in nitric oxide (NO) and redox signaling. She graduated with honors in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology from the University of Milan and earned her PhD in Pharmacology with distinction from Heinrich Heine University (HHU), where she investigated the role of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in inflammation. After her PhD, Dr. Cortese-Krott conducted pioneering research on the in vivo role of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in red blood cells (RBCs) and its impact on cardiovascular regulation at RWTH Aachen University and HHU Düsseldorf.
In 2016, she was appointed Professor at HHU, where she established her research group. She has developed cell-specific eNOS knockout (KO) and knock-in (KI) mouse models to elucidate the physiological and pathological roles of NO across different tissues. She then spent two years as a Wenner-Gren Research Fellow at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, focusing on NO-mediated metabolic regulation and cGMP signaling.
She has received multiple awards for her contributions to redox biology and NO research. She holds leadership roles in major scientific societies, serving as President of the Nitric Oxide Society, a council member of the cGMP Society, and a council member of the Society for Redox Biology and Medicine (SfRBM). In addition to her research, she serves as Chief Editor of Nitric Oxide and Senior Editor at the British Journal of Pharmacology
Contact: miriam.cortese@hhu.de
Nathan S. Bryan
Nathan Bryan earned his undergraduate Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from the University of Texas at Austin and his doctoral degree from Louisiana State University School of Medicine in Shreveport where he was the recipient of the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research. He pursued his post-doctoral training as a Kirschstein Fellow at Boston University School of Medicine in the Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute. After a two year post-doctoral fellowship, in 2006 Dr. Bryan was recruited to join faculty at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston by Ferid Murad, M.D., Ph.D., 1998 Nobel Laureate in Medicine or Physiology.
Dr. Bryan has been involved in nitric oxide research for the past 18 years and has made many seminal discoveries in the field. These discoveries and findings have transformed the development of safe and effective functional bioactive natural products in the treatment and prevention of human disease and may provide the basis for new preventive or therapeutic strategies in many chronic diseases. His many seminal discoveries have resulted in over a dozen issued US and International patents. He is also a successful entrepreneur who has successfully commercialized his nitric oxide technology. Dr. Bryan has published a number of highly cited papers and authored or edited 5 books. He is an international leader in molecular medicine and nitric oxide biochemistry.
Contact: drnathanbryan@gmail.com
Sharon Glynn
Sharon Glynn is a Professor in Pathology at University of Galway and 2022 Fulbright Scholar. She was awarded a Science Foundation Ireland Career Development Award in 2018 for her research into the role of nitrosative stress and human endogenous retroviruses (HERV-K) in the development of high grade breast and prostate cancer. Her current work is focused on elucidating the role of inflammation pathways particularly in the progression of triple negative breast cancer and metastatic prostate cancer.
She graduated in 2003 with a BSc in Biotechnology from Dublin City University. After graduation she served as a research officer at the National Institute for Cellular Biotechnology in Dublin City University where she studied the efficacy of new therapeutics including cholesterol lowering statins on breast cancer and melanoma proliferation and invasion. From 2005 to 2009 Dr. Glynn worked as an NCI Cancer Prevention Fellow in Bethesda Maryland, USA in the Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis under the mentorship of Dr. Stefan Ambs, studying the role of inflammation pathways in estrogen receptor negative breast cancer progression using an approach combining molecular epidemiology and basic laboratory science. She discovered a novel role for NOS2 in ER negative and basal-like breast cancer progression. Dr. Glynn also discovered a polymorphism in the SOD2 gene predicative of response to cyclophosphamide containing chemotherapeutic regimens in breast cancer cases, receiving an NIH Fellows Award for Research Excellence for this work. In September 2009 Dr. Glynn moved to the Radiation Biology Branch at the NCI, to continue working with Dr. David Wink. During this time she was awarded a Keystone Symposia Scholarship for her work. From September 2010 to December 2014 Dr. Glynn was the Director of Laboratory Research at the Prostate Cancer Institute at NUI Galway (University of Galway). She is currently the Coordinator of a MSCA Doctoral Network called NO-CANCER-NET. Prof. Glynn has authored over 60 papers in peer reviewed journals and has also received numerous grants from Breast Cancer Now and the Irish Cancer Society.
Contact: sharon.glynn@universityofgalway.ie
Mattias Carlström
Mattias Carlstrom is a Professor of Cardiorenal Physiology and Research Group Leader at the Karolinska Institutet, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology. Additionally, he holds an adjunct position at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, where he previously conducted postdoctoral research on renal autoregulation in health and disease.
Carlstrom's research focuses on the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms contributing to the triad of cardiovascular, kidney, and metabolic (CKM) disorders, which are prevalent in aging populations and exacerbated by sedentary lifestyles and unhealthy diets. Specifically, his work aims to elucidate the role of vascular oxidative stress, nitric oxide (NO) deficiency, and mitochondrial dysfunction while exploring novel dietary and pharmacological therapeutic strategies.
Taking a translational approach, Carlstrom's research spans from mechanistic in vitro cell studies and sophisticated ex vivo microvascular analyses to in vivo interventions in animal disease models and clinical studies involving patients with cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease and type 2 diabetes. This approach enables his team to characterize disease mechanisms and evaluate the therapeutic potential of dietary interventions—such as enhancing the nitrate-nitrite-NO pathway—as well as pharmacological strategies, including the inhibition of specific NADPH oxidase isoforms, modulation of adenosine receptor signaling, and reduction of overactive sympathetic nerve activity. These strategies aim to restore redox balance and mitigate inflammatory processes in the vasculature, kidney and metabolic organs during disease progression.
Over the past five years, Professor Carlstrom and his team have published numerous original scientific articles, reviews, and book chapters. Their work has provided valuable insights into oxidative stress and NO deficiency in CKM disorders, advancing the understanding of disease mechanisms and highlighting the clinical potential of novel treatments designed to increase bioactive nitrogen oxide species, incl. heme-NO and dinitrosyl-iron complexes (DNIC).
Contact: mattias.carlstrom@ki.se
Hozumi Motohashi
Hozumi Motohashi earned her M.D. from Tohoku University School of Medicine in 1990. After completing a two-year clinical residency in otolaryngology, she pursued doctoral studies at the Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, receiving her Ph.D. in 1996. Her thesis explored the regulatory mechanisms and in vivo functions of MafK, a small Maf transcription factor, which acts as a critical heterodimeric partner for CNC family transcription factors, including NRF2.
Following her Ph.D., Hozumi joined the University of Tsukuba as a research assistant professor, where she focused on the functions and biological significance of CNC-sMaf transcription factors. In 2006, she returned to Tohoku University as an associate professor, conducting pioneering work on the cellular response mechanisms to oxidative and xenobiotic stress and the role of NRF2 in maintaining homeostasis. Her research also uncovered unique metabolic characteristics of malignant cancers with aberrant NRF2 activation.
In 2013, Hozumi established her laboratory as a professor at the Institute of Development, Aging, and Cancer at Tohoku University. Her laboratory initiated new research into the roles of NRF2 in aging and sulfur metabolism. Among sulfur-containing metabolites, supersulfides, characterized by sulfur catenation, emerged as a central focus of her investigations due to their significant roles in NRF2-dependent cytoprotection and other biological processes.
In 2023, Hozumi was appointed to her current position at the Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, where her laboratory’s research now emphasizes redox metabolism and its influence on gene expression. One of her laboratory's notable discoveries involves oxygen-mediated regulation of supersulfide synthesis through vitamin B6 bioactivation, a process potentially linked to various pathological conditions caused by chronic hypoxia.
Hozumi's overarching research goal is to elucidate how living organisms adapt to environmental challenges and sustain life by investigating NRF2-dependent transcriptional regulation. Her work focuses on the role of NRF2 and sulfur metabolism in aging-related diseases, including cancer, inflammation, and neurodegeneration.
Contact: hozumim@med.tohoku.ac.jp
Lorenzo Berra
Lorenzo Berra is a Reginald Jenney Associate Professor of Anaesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
After his time in medical school at the University of Milan, Dr. Berra spent three years under the mentorship of Dr. Theodor Kolobow in a research laboratory at the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD). From 2006-2011 he completed his residency in Anesthesia and fellowship in Critical Care both at the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine at MGH. Since 2011 he is a staff anesthesiologist and intensivist and a member of Dr. Warren Zapol's MGH Anesthesia Center for Critical Care Research.
His current patient care activities are focused on caring for critically ill patients and their families. His primary research and academic interests involve translational research to improve diagnosis, treatment and care of critically ill patients with cardio-pulmonary failure or severe infections. Under the mentorship and collaborative work with Dr. Warren Zapol (2005-2021), he also expanded his studies on biology and biochemestry of inhaled nitric oxide and the role of transfusion and hemolysis on hemodynamics, inflammation, endothelial dysfunction and organ dysfunction
Contact: lberra@mgh.harvard.edu
Motohiro Nishida
Motohiro Nishida completed the doctoral program at the University of Tokyo (Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences) in March 2001. His doctoral thesis was ‘Endogenous cardioprotective signaling activated by oxidative modification of Gai and Gao proteins’. Specializing cardiovascular pharmacology and physiology, he was an Assistant Professor at the National Institute for Physiological Sciences (NIPS) in National Institutes of Natural Sciences, an Associate Professor at Kyushu University, and became a Professor at NIPS from 2013. He became a cross-appointment Professor at Kyushu University, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences from 2015. From 2020, he also became a Director at the Drug Discovery Research Center of Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kyushu University. He has consistently studied on the CysSH modification-dependent regulation of G protein signaling in the heart, including heterotrimeric Gi family proteins (Nature 2000), H-Ras small GTPase (Nature Chem. Biol., 2012) and dynamin-related G protein Drp1 (Nature Commun., 2017; Sci. Signal, 2019; Nature Commun, 2025). He establishes a semi-quantitative bio-imaging technique using supersulfide-selective fluorescence probes and proteomic analysis to detect endogenous supersulfidated proteins in cells and tissues. He also studies on Zn2+-permeable TRPC channels contributing to baroreflex-dependent enhancement of cardiac positive inotropy (Nature Commun, 2022).
Contact: nishida@phar.kyushu-u.ac.jp