Joseph M. Miano, Ph.D.

Professional Bio

Dr. Joseph M. Miano received his Ph.D. in Experimental Pathology from New York Medical College in 1992. His post-doctoral training was done in Eric Olson's laboratory at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center where he cloned and characterized several smooth muscle-restricted promoters and initiated the study of retinoids in the vessel wall. Prior to his appointment at the U of R, Dr. Miano was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology at the Medical College of Wisconsin where his genomics interests were developed and cultivated through collaborative work with Howard Jacob's lab. Dr. Miano served as an editorial board member for several journals and was Associate Editor of ATVB and a Consulting Editor for Circulation Research. He is a Fellow of the American Heart Association and a member of the Vascular Cell and Molecular Biology Study Section at NIH.

Patient Care Bio

Dr. Joseph Miano grew up in Chili, a suburb of Rochester, New York. He graduated from Gates-Chili High School in 1980 and, following one year of playing junior hockey in Western New York and Southern Ontario, he attended SUNY Cortland and graduated in 1986 with dual degrees in Biology and Physical Education (Exercise Science). His undergraduate research, performed in 1983-86 under the tutelage of David Berger and Jim Starzec, investigated the effects of psychological stress or voluntary exercise on fatty streak formation in the aorta of spontaneously hypertensive rats. His PhD research, in Experimental Pathology at New York Medical College under the mentorship of Michael Stemerman, involved the identification of genes rapidly turned on following experimental balloon angioplasty. His post-doctoral training was done with Eric Olson at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston Texas where he cloned and characterized several smooth muscle-restricted promoters and initiated the study of retinoids in the blood vessel wall. He was recruited to the University of Rochester in 1999 following a three year appointment at the Medical College of Wisconsin where he developed a passion for the human genome. A major research aim in the Miano Lab has been to decipher the small snippets of codes in our genome that dictate how genes involved in cardiovascular disease are either turned up or down. Much like a thermostat controlling the heat in a home, cells normally have exquisite control over the level of gene activity. Diseases of the heart and blood vessels occur when this 'geneostat' control runs awry. Thus, identifying and understanding how certain genetic codes control genes turning on and off is a foundation for developing novel methods of predicting and perhaps treating various diseases of the body. Dr. Miano's lab was among the first wave of labs in 2013 to exploit the revolutionary CRISPR genome editing technology for purposes of altering the mouse genome and, within a year, the lab generated the first CRISPR animal model carrying subtle mutations in a control element that turns on a gene (Cnn1). To date, Dr. Miano has published over 100 research papers that focus on the control of gene expression in smooth muscle cells of the blood vessel wall. He previously served as Associate Editor of ATVB and Consulting Editor of Circulation Research. He is a Fellow of the American Heart Association and a member of the Vascular Cell and Molecular Biology Study Section at NIH.