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.
Dennis J. Stuehr received his PhD in Biochemical Toxicology at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1987, where he identified the first mammalian cell to generate nitrogen oxides. In 1987 he moved to Cornell University Medical College and joined the faculty in 1989, then moved to The Cleveland Clinic in 1991 where he presently is a Professor of Molecular Medicine at the Medical School. He is a founding member of the NO society, the NO Journal, and the NO Gordon Conference. Dr. Stuehr’s research on NO synthase enzymology and how NO regulates heme iron trafficking and protein function has made wide-ranging fundamental contributions toward our understanding of NO in human health and in diseases such as asthma, hypertension, and cancer.
An American physician scientist known for the discovery of protein S-nitrosylation, a global post-translational modification of proteins that is widely involved in both physiology and disease. Dr Stamler is also known for a track record of innovation and entrepreneurship as a founder of institutes, biotechnology companies, medical societies, innovation platforms and impact investment funds. He has co-authored nearly 400original manuscripts and 225 issued patents and has been recognized with multiple awards. His work has been covered in numerous lay publications, including the front page and science sections of the New York Times, as well as Time Magazine and The Economist, in books on the history of science, and in works on outlier innovators.
Jonathan Stamler discovered protein S-nitrosylation (binding of nitric oxide to Cys residues) as a ubiquitous posttranslational modification of proteins and the archetype redox signaling system across phylogeny. All classes of proteins can be modified by S-nitrosylation from bacteria to humans, and aberrant S-nitrosylation plays important roles in disease from heart failure to Alzheimer’s, asthma, diabetes, and cancer. Dr Stamler has shown that S-nitrosylation is controlled enzymatically by writer and eraser enzymes (that are being connected to specific signaling pathways) and that it regulates widespread physiology, including functions of the heart, skeletal muscle, vasculature and airways. His notable discovery that S-nitrosylation of hemoglobin is needed to oxygenate healthy tissues has re-defined the respiratory cycle as a three- (not two-) gas system—O2/NO/CO2—and identified an essential role for RBCs in control of blood flow. Dr Stamler also discovered trans-kingdom S-nitrosylation through which microbiome bacteria broadly modify host proteins to control animal physiology and development, and he identified how the drug nitroglycerin works. His discoveries have thus changed the understanding of signaling by gaseous messengers, reshaped nitric oxide/redox biology, and broadly impacted the biological sciences.
Martin is a licensed Pharmacist, Pharmacologist, Systems Biologist and Analytical Chemist with a particular expertise in cardiovascular physiology, adaptation to hypoxia and other stressors as well as the chemical biology of NO/HNO and sulfur in its various forms (incl persulfides and polysulfides). His interests in the chemical interactions between reactive oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur species in the context of mitochondrial function, redox signaling and whole-body electron balance led to the development of conceptual frameworks known as the ‘Reactive Species Interactome’ and the ‘Redox Interactome’.Martin is affiliated with the School of Clinical and Experimental Sciences in the Faculty of Medicine, the Perioperative and Critical Care group at the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre and the Institute for Life Sciences on main campus. He is also the Deputy Director of the SCBR Mass Spectrometry Unit at the Southampton General Hospital.
Dr. Lorenzo Berra is an anesthesiologist, intensivist, and clinical scientist whose work bridges respiratory physiology, biomedical innovation, and translational medicine. He is internationally recognized for pioneering the clinical application of inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) and other therapeutic gases, from experimental medicine in animal models to first-in-human and phase I–II clinical trials.
His research has elucidated the protective and antimicrobial properties of nitric oxide in respiratory failure, pneumonia, and perioperative organ injury, helping to define the physiological basis of gas-mediated therapies in critical illness. Dr. Berra has led several landmark studies on iNO for the prevention of acute kidney injury during cardiac surgery, the antimicrobial effects of nitric oxide in bacterial pneumonia, and the use of high-dose iNO in COVID-19 and acute hypoxemic respiratory failure. At the bench, his group has advanced the pioneering biomedical engineering work of Dr. Theodor Kolobow, Dr. Warren Zapol, and Dr. Robert Kacmarek, developing novel respiratory devices including innovative endotracheal tube designs, drug-eluting materials, advanced ventilation modes, plasma-based nitric oxide generators, and inhaled gas delivery systems for spontaneously breathing patients. His team has also implemented integrated bedside monitoring combining electrical impedance tomography and esophageal manometry to guide individualized ventilation. These innovations have reshaped mechanical ventilation practices across the lifespan, from newborns to adults with obesity and acute and chronic respiratory failure, advancing neonatal and adult personalized respiratory care worldwide.
Dr. Berra’s translational research is supported by the National Institutes of Health, Harvard Medical School, philanthropy and multiple industry collaborations. His mentorship program at Harvard Medical School has trained dozens of international physician-scientists who now lead research and clinical programs across the world.
Dr. Berra earned his MD from the University of Milan, trained in an experimental laboratory at the National Institutes of Health under Dr. Theodor Kolobow, and was later recruited by Dr. Warren Zapol to the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he completed his residency and fellowship. He currently serves as Reginald Jenney Associate Professor of Anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School, Medical Director of Respiratory Care at MGH, Mass Eye and Ear, and Shriners Hospital, and is an investigator at the Anesthesia Center for Critical Care Research at MGH.
