Luke Dunaway, PhD
Assistant Professor
Education & Affiliations
Biography
Dr. Luke Dunaway earned his B.S. in Biological Engineering from Mississippi State University and his Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Physiology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he studied the posttranslational regulation of endothelial nitric oxide. He completed postdoctoral training at the University of Virginia, where he developed a research program focused on how iron regulates endothelial biology and vascular function, which now forms the foundation of his research program at Tulane University. Throughout his career, Dr. Dunaway’s work has been supported by the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association.
Research
My research investigates how changes in iron regulates endothelial cell biology with a focus on how this impacts cardiovascular function iron deficiency anemia and chronic kidney disease.
Iron deficiency is one of the most common nutritional problems worldwide and is linked to worse outcomes in heart failure and chronic kidney disease. My research focuses on how iron levels influence endothelial cells, which line the vasculature and play a key role in maintaining cardiovascular health. My work explores this by investigating how endothelial iron deficiency alters hemodynamics in iron deficiency anemia and how excess endothelial iron contributes to heart failure in chronic kidney disease. To explore these mechanisms, I use novel mouse models, 3D imaging of the microvasculature, bioinformatics, and in vivo measurements of vascular function. My goal is to uncover how endothelial iron regulates vascular biology to inform the development of new treatments and diagnostics for patients with anemia, heart failure, and kidney disease.
Publications
Dunaway LS, Nyshadham S, Loeb SA, O'Donnell BL, Abib N, Schug WJ, Juskiewicz ZJ, Luse MA, Stahl ME, Sveeggen TM, Bagher P, Allen JD, Toldo S, Goldfarb AN, Isakson BE. Arterial iron regulates vasodilation during anemia via endothelial holo α-globin. Blood. 2026 Jun 29:blood.2025032905. doi: 10.1182/blood.2025032905. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 42371808.
Williams AE, Dunaway LS, Juśkiewicz ZJ, Schug WJ, Cortese-Krott MM, Koval M, Isakson BE. Impact of Endothelial Diversity and Dysfunction on Cardiovascular Disease. Compr Physiol. 2025 Dec;15(6):e70064. doi: 10.1002/cph4.70064. Review. PubMed PMID: 41178013
O'Donnell BL, Williams MD, Billaud M, Dunaway LS, Columbus L, Koval M, Isakson BE. Pannexins in the vasculature. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2025 Dec 1;329(6):H1449-H1470. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.00510.2025. Epub 2025 Oct 6. Review. PubMed PMID: 41051983
Ruddiman CA, O'Donnell BL, Wolpe A, Blagrove N, Dunaway LS, Lin CJ, Best AK, Cortese-Krott MM, Mecham RP, Wagenseil JE, Isakson BE. Elastin Regulation of Vasoreactivity in Resistance Arteries. Hypertension. 2025 Dec;82(12):2112-2124. doi: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.124.24372. Epub 2025 Oct 1. PubMed PMID: 41031397
Heuser SK, Li J, Li Z, LoBue A, Heard K, Hocks J, Suvorava T, Cadeddu RP, Strupp C, Dunaway L, Zhuge Z, Gelhaus SL, Heinen A, Germing U, Feelisch M, Carlström M, Isakson B, Kelm M, Lundberg JO, Cortese-Krott MM. Divergent roles of red cell arginase in humans and mice: RBC Arg1 KO mice show preserved systemic l-arginine bioavailability and infarct size in vivo. Redox Biol. 2025 Oct;86:103768. doi: 10.1016/j.redox.2025.103768. Epub 2025 Jul 14. PubMed PMID: 40729962
Dunaway LS, Mills WA 3rd, Eyo UB, Isakson BE. The Cells of the Vasculature: Advances in the Regulation of Vascular Tone in the Brain and Periphery. Basic Clin Pharmacol Toxicol. 2025 May;136(5):e70023. doi: 10.1111/bcpt.70023. Review. PubMed PMID: 40143606
Luse MA, Schug WJ, Dunaway LS, Nyshadham S, Loeb SA, Carvalho A, Tessema R, Pavelec C, Keller TCS 4th, Shu X, Ruddiman CA, Kosmach A, Sveeggen TM, Mitchell R, Bagher P, Minshall RD, Leitnger N, Columbus L, Levental KR, Levental I, Cortese-Krott M, Isakson BE. Nitrosation of CD36 Regulates Endothelial Function and Serum Lipids. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2025 Jul;45(7):1067-1086. doi: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.124.321964. Epub 2025 Apr 17. PubMed PMID: 40242868
Molina PA, Edell CJ, Dunaway LS, Kellum CE, Muir RQ, Jennings MS, Colson JC, De Miguel C, Rhoads MK, Buzzelli AA, Harrington LE, Meza-Perez S, Randall TD, Botta D, Müller DN, Pollock DM, Maynard CL, Pollock JS. Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Activation Promotes Effector CD4+ T Cell Homeostasis and Restrains Salt-Sensitive Hypertension. Function (Oxf). 2025 Mar 24;6(2). doi: 10.1093/function/zqaf001. PubMed PMID: 39779302
Pati P, De Miguel C, Paul JR, Zhang D, Colson J, Allan JM, Edell CJ, Rhoads MK, Dunaway LS, Biswal SN, Zhong Y, Sedaka R, Millender-Swain T, Bailey SM, Gamble KL, Pollock DM, Pollock JS. Time-restricted feeding reduces cardiovascular disease risk in obese mice. JCI Insight. 2025 Jan 7;10(4). doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.160257. PubMed PMID: 39812779
LoBue A, Li Z, Heuser SK, Li J, Leo F, Vornholz L, Dunaway LS, Suvorava T, Isakson BE, Cortese-Krott MM. Generation and characterization of a conditional eNOS knock out mouse model for cell-specific reactivation of eNOS in gain-of-function studies. Nitric Oxide. 2024 Dec 1;153:106-113. doi: 10.1016/j.niox.2024.10.009. Epub 2024 Oct 16. PubMed PMID: 39419166
Luse MA, Dunaway LS, Nyshadham S, Carvalho A, Sedovy MW, Ruddiman CA, Tessema R, Hirschi K, Johnstone SR, Isakson BE. Endothelial-adipocyte Cx43 Mediated Gap Junctions Can Regulate Adiposity. Function (Oxf). 2024 Sep 10;5(5). doi: 10.1093/function/zqae029. PubMed PMID: 38984993
Dunaway LS, Saii K, LoBue A, Nyshadham S, Abib N, Heuser SK, Loeb SA, Simonsen U, Cortese-Krott MM, Isakson BE. The hemodynamic response to nitrite is acute and dependent upon tissue perfusion. Nitric Oxide. 2024 Sep 1;150:47-52. doi: 10.1016/j.niox.2024.07.005. Epub 2024 Aug 2. PubMed PMID: 39097183
Dunaway LS, Cook AK, Kellum CE, Edell C, Botta D, Molina PA, Sedaka RS, d'Uscio LV, Katusic ZS, Pollock DM, Inscho EW, Pollock JS. Endothelial histone deacetylase 1 activity impairs kidney microvascular NO signaling in rats fed a high-salt diet. Acta Physiol (Oxf). 2024 Sep;240(9):e14201. doi: 10.1111/apha.14201. Epub 2024 Jul 15. PubMed PMID: 39007513
Dunaway LS, Loeb SA, Petrillo S, Tolosano E, Isakson BE. Heme metabolism in nonerythroid cells. J Biol Chem. 2024 Apr;300(4):107132. doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2024.107132. Epub 2024 Mar 2. Review. PubMed PMID: 38432636
Wolpe AG, Luse MA, Baryiames C, Schug WJ, Wolpe JB, Johnstone SR, Dunaway LS, Juśkiewicz ZJ, Loeb SA, Askew Page HR, Chen YL, Sabapathy V, Pavelec CM, Wakefield B, Cifuentes-Pagano E, Artamonov MV, Somlyo AV, Straub AC, Sharma R, Beier F, Barrett EJ, Leitinger N, Pagano PJ, Sonkusare SK, Redemann S, Columbus L, Penuela S, Isakson BE. Pannexin-3 stabilizes the transcription factor Bcl6 in a channel-independent manner to protect against vascular oxidative stress. Sci Signal. 2024 Jan 30;17(821):eadg2622. doi: 10.1126/scisignal.adg2622. Epub 2024 Jan 30. PubMed PMID: 38289985
Dunaway LS, Luse MA, Nyshadham S, Bulut G, Alencar GF, Chavkin NW, Cortese-Krott M, Hirschi KK, Isakson BE. Obesogenic diet disrupts tissue-specific mitochondrial gene signatures in the artery and capillary endothelium. Physiol Genomics. 2024 Feb 1;56(2):113-127. doi: 10.1152/physiolgenomics.00109.2023. Epub 2023 Nov 20. PubMed PMID: 37982169
Dunaway LS, Billaud M, Macal E, Good ME, Medina CB, Lorenz U, Ravichandran K, Koval M, Isakson BE. Amount of Pannexin 1 in Smooth Muscle Cells Regulates Sympathetic Nerve-Induced Vasoconstriction. Hypertension. 2023 Feb;80(2):416-425. doi: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.122.20280. Epub 2022 Nov 30. PubMed PMID: 36448464
King DR, Sedovy MW, Eaton X, Dunaway LS, Good ME, Isakson BE, Johnstone SR. Cell-To-Cell Communication in the Resistance Vasculature. Compr Physiol. 2022 Aug 12;12(4):3833-3867. doi: 10.1002/cphy.c210040. PubMed PMID: 35959755
Dunaway LS, Pollock JS. HDAC1: an environmental sensor regulating endothelial function. Cardiovasc Res. 2022 Jun 29;118(8):1885-1903. doi: 10.1093/cvr/cvab198. Review. PubMed PMID: 34264338
Taylor CM, Kasztan M, Sedaka R, Molina PA, Dunaway LS, Pollock JS, Pollock DM. Hydroxyurea improves nitric oxide bioavailability in humanized sickle cell mice. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2021 May 1;320(5):R630-R640. doi: 10.1152/ajpregu.00205.2020. Epub 2021 Feb 24. PubMed PMID: 33624556
Awards & Recognitions
The Physiology Department welcomes Luke Dunaway, Ph.D., as an Assistant Professor. Dr. Dunaway earned his B.S. in Biological Engineering from Mississippi State University and his Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Physiology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His doctoral research focused on the posttranslational regulation of endothelial nitric oxide. He then completed postdoctoral training at the University of Virginia, where he built a research program examining how iron regulates endothelial biology and vascular function—an area that now forms the foundation of his independent lab at Tulane.
Throughout his career, Dr. Dunaway’s work has been supported by the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association.
