The Goncharova Lab | Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine | Department of Internal Medicine | UC Davis Health

The Goncharova Lab

Welcome to the Goncharova Lab, part of UC Davis Health's Department of Internal Medicine and Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine. Our research interests have focused on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of pulmonary hypertension. Our goals are to:

  • Dissect new signaling hubs driving hyper-proliferation of pulmonary vascular cells, pulmonary vascular remodeling and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH);
  • Identify and pre-clinically validate novel molecular target pathways for therapeutic intervention;
  • Develop in vitro human-based models for molecular and pre-clinical studies.

  • The role of mTOR and HIPPO signaling networks in in pulmonary vascular cell hyper-proliferation, remodeling, and right ventricular dysfunction in pulmonary arterial hypertension.

  • Lactate as a signaling molecule in PAH pathogenesis.

Elena Goncharova, Ph.D.
Professor
Director, Pulmonary Vascular Disease Program,  UC Davis Lung Center
Dmitry Goncharov, M.S.
Staff Research Associate III
Lab Manager
dgoncharov@ucdavis.edu
Lifeng Jiang, Ph.D.
Assistant Project Scientist
lfjiang@ucdavis.edu
Iryna Zhyvyo, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Project Scientist
izhyvylo@ucdavis.edu 
Tapan Dey, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Researcher
tdey@ucdavis.edu 
Derek Lin, B.S.
Lab Assistant
delin@ucdavis.edu
Aisha Saiyed
Undergraduate Researcher
asaiyed@ucdavis.edu
Sanjana Neeli
Undergraduate Researcher
sneeli@ucdavis.edu 
Maanvi Shah
Undergraduate Researcher
mkpshah@ucdavis.edu 
Leafa Si
Undergraduate Researcher
wsi@ucdavis.edu 

Alumni

Tatiana Kudryashova, Ph.D.
Current position: Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Yuanjun (Steven) Shen, Ph.D.
Current position: Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Delaware

Leyla Teos, Ph.D.
Current position: Clinical Research Coordinator, UC Davis Health

View our complete list of published works

Selected Publications

Reviews and Editorials

  • June 2024: Big Congratulations to our undergraduate trainee, Aisha Saiyed, who has been awarded a CBS Distinguished Scholar Award (also known as a UC Davis Citation for Outstanding Performance) in Biological Sciences! Well done and well deserved!
  • June 2024: It was a great pleasure to host Dr. Gregoire Ruffenach from UCLA and learn about his exciting studies on pulmonary hypertension presented at the UC Davis Lung Center seminar series. Thank you, Dr. Ruffenach for sharing your discoveries with us and for meeting with our T32 trainees and early-stage faculty researchers!
  • May 2024: Big Congratulations to Dr. Lifeng Jiang with the American Thoracic Society Pulmonary Circulation Assembly Abstract Scholarship Award! Well done and well deserved!

  • January to February 2024: Congratulations to Dr. Jiang for receiving the UC Davis Department of Internal Medicine 2024 Professional Research Award in the Outstanding Poster category and UC Davis Academic Federation Research Travel Grant for PVRI 2024 Annual Congress.
  • November 2023: Big congratulations to Dr. Jiang on receiving the Cardiopulmonary, Critical Care, Perioperative, and Resuscitation (3CPR) Junior Investigator Travel Grants for the American Heart Association 2023 Scientific Sessions in Philadelphia. The abstract submitted by Dr. Jiang was ranked among the top 3 scoring PAH Biology Abstracts for 3CPR and was selected as one of six participants at the 2023 "Swimming with the Sharks" Early Career event. Well done, Lifeng!

  • November 2023: Congratulations to Dr. Goncharova on being named an associate editor for the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine! Meet the New AJRCMB Editors.
  • May 2023: Big congratulations to Dr. Jiang on the Abstract Scholarship Award from the Pulmonary Circulation Assembly of the American Thoracic Society 2023 International Conference in Washington DC. This is the second abstract scholarship award received by Dr. Jiang from the ATS PC Assembly! Well done, Lifeng!

second Abstract Scholarship Award received by Dr. Jiang from the ATS PC Assembly

  • April 2023: Our paper, "GATA6 coordinates cross-talk between BMP10 and oxidative stress axis in pulmonary arterial hypertension", was published in the Scientific Reports! Congratulations to the first author Dr. Tatiana Kudryashova and team! Learn more about this study here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-33779-8

GATA6 coordinates cross-talk between BMP10 and oxidative stress axis in pulmonary arterial hypertension

  • April 2023: Congratulations to Dr. Shen on receiving the NIH/NHLBI K99/R00 award to study the role of VPS34 in pulmonary arterial hypertension!
  • February 2023: Congratulations to Dr. Kudryashova on receiving the NIH/NHLBI R01 award to study the role of HIPK2 signaling in pulmonary arterial hypertension!
  • December 2022: Our paper, "Cross-talk between TSC2 and the extracellular matrix controls pulmonary vascular proliferation and pulmonary hypertension", was published in the Science Signaling and placed on the cover of the magazine! Congratulations to Steve Shen, Dmitry Goncharov, and the team! Learn more at https://www.science.org/stoken/author-tokens/ST-891/full

Science signaling magazine cover page

signaling scheme

  • May 2022: Congratulations to Dr. Jiang (first author) and Dr. Kudryashova (senior author) on the Abstract Scholarship Award from the Pulmonary Circulation Assembly of the American Thoracic Society 2022 International Conference in San Francisco. Well done and well deserved!

Abstract Scholarship Award from the Pulmonary Circulation Assembly of the American Thoracic Society 2022 International Conference in San Franscisco

  • March 2022: Congratulations to Dr. Jiang on his Rapid Talk Presentation Award from the 7th Annual Postdoctoral Research Symposium of UC Davis.
  • March 2022: Congratulations to Dr. Shen on the President's Award from the California Thoracic Society 2022 Annual Educational Conference!

Yuanjun Shen poster presentation

  • March 2022: Congratulations to Dr. Shen on the UC Davis PSA Travel Award! 
  • February 2022: Please read our recent paper in the Circulation Research on the novel role of MST1/2 in pulmonary hypertension! The study led by Drs. Kudryashova, Dabral & colleagues report that MST1 act as pro-proliferative and pro-survival molecules via BUB3 and FOXO in PAH pulmonary vasculature. Learn more at http://ow.ly/S5Co30sc7hw

Circulation Research paper

  • November 2021: Dr. Goncharova was recognized as an Expertscape Expert in in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.
  • August 2021: Congratulations to Dr. Shen on the American Heart Association Postdoctoral Award and the Jane Morse Award from the American Thoracic Society Pulmonary Circulation Assembly! Well done, Steve!