LAB NEWS
LAB NEWS
July 2026
We officially welcomed research assistant Natali Miranda to the lab! We’re happy to have you Natali!
July 2026
Garcia Lab Outing: Mystic Escape Room
We went to our second Escape Room, the award winning and highly acclaimed “The Tears of Freya” - our team “The Powerhouse of the Cell” escaped in 55 minutes! The room has a 40% rate of success so I couldn’t me more proud we got out with 5 minutes to spare! This was also our farewell to Chase who is starting Medical School this week!
July 2026
Tasha was officially promoted to Associate Professor of Pediatric Cardiology!
Thanks a ton to my mentors, mentees, and colleagues who all helped make this dream possible <3
June 2026
Tasha’s collaborative team was one of 15 research teams awarded an Additional Ventures Single Ventricle Research Fund Grant to conduct a high-throughput phenotypic drug discovery pipeline to identify first-in-class anti-fibrotic therapeutics for patients with Single Ventricle Congenital Heart Disease.
June 2026
We were lucky enough to welcome 2 summer students to the Garcia Lab this year: Charlotte Steffensen and Arnav Mana.
Charlotte is a summer research intern in the prestigious Children’s Hospital Colorado Child Health Research Internship Program! She is originally from Chicago, IL but is a current undergraduate student at Middlebury College where she is also on the Rowing Crew! Charlotte will be working in the Garcia Lab this summer to investigate the role lipid remodeling in cardiac fibroblast activation.
Arnav is a visiting high school student who will be working in the Garcia Lab this summer to investigate the role of cardiac fibroblasts as drivers of fibrosis and inflammation in the Single Ventricle Heart. Arnav was recently named one of the top 200 biology students in the nation by the USA Biology Olympiad, and we’re so excited to have him join us this summer!
May 2026
Praveen was awarded the 2026 Dean’s outstanding Master’s Student Award!
Congratulations, Praveen - very well deserved!
April 2026
Garcia Lab Outing: Rockies v Padres Baseball Game
We went out to celebrate Cristina’s Year 2 CSD Research In Progress Talk & Chase’s Acceptance into Medical School! So proud of this team!
Ashely Pietra (MS2) made it into the Peds Feed Newsletter! Congratulations Ashley on receiving the Western Society for Pediatric Research Best Pediatric Cardiology Abstract Award ! She will be giving her oral presentation in Carmel, California next week! Cheers to a fantastic start to 2026!
January 2026
Garcia Lab Outing: Division of Cardiology Holiday Party @Punch Bowl Social
We reunited with old friends and had a great time celebrating the beginning of 2026! Cheers to a year of many publications, grants and conference presentations!
January 2026
The Garcia Lab made it out of the chat and attended the CU Anschutz “First Snow” event on campus! Look how cute they are with their new scarves!
December 2025
November was a busy month in the lab! Tasha and Ashley attended the annual American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions in New Orleans, LA! They both had well attended poster presentations and Tasha moderated some exciting scientific sessions! Tasha’s parent’s came along for a good ol’ fashioned NOLA experience!
November 2025
PRA and Master’s Student Praveen Ramaswamy successfully defended his Masters Thesis in Pharmaceutical Sciences this week! Congratulations, Praveen - Can’t wait to see what you accomplish next!
November 2025
We welcomed rotation student, Adrian Grijalva, to our lab! Adrian is a first-year graduate student in the Integrative Physiology Program! We look forward to having Adrian join us for 3-months as he completes his rotation project focused on Inflammatory Signaling and Fibrosis in the Pathogenesis of Single Ventricle Congenital Heart Disease.
November 2025
Tasha & Cristina attended the annual CSD Retreat in beautiful Estes Park, CO! As a second-year, Cristina presented a poster and her cohort dressed up as the Kim Possible Crew for Halloween - we love the Ron Possible blonde wig she’s rockin’
October 2025
We welcomed rotation student, Anita Pothukuchi, to our lab! Anita is a first-year graduate student in the Biomedical Sciences Program! We look forward to having Anita join us for 3-months as she completes her rotation project focused on Unraveling the Crosstalk between Cardiac Fibroblasts, Immune Cells, and Cardiomyocytes in the Pathogenesis of Single Ventricle Congenital Heart Disease.
September 2025
We had a farewell Happy Hour for Mary Turner, who will be leaving the lab to start her journey as a PhD student in the Biomedical Sciences Program this year! We couldn’t be more proud of you, Mary! Congratulations, and cheers to your next adventure!
August 2025
Congratulations to Ashley Pietra (MS2) on being awarded 2nd Place for her Oral Presentation at the University of Florida 2025 Pediatric Medical Student Research Forum! Way to go Ashley - you’re first in our hearts ;)
August 2025
2 new members joined our Team!
We officially welcomed 2nd year CSD graduate student Cristina Velasquez and research assistant Efren Montelongo! We’re happy to have you guys <3
August 2025
The Garcia Lab does science TOGETHER. Thanks to Mary, we now have matching shirts (featuring our lab logo) to wear for our long termination days in the lab!
July 2025
We welcomed undergraduate student, Grace Todd to our lab! Grace is a summer research intern in the prestigious Children’s Hospital Colorado Child Health Research Internship Program! Grace is originally from Denver, CO but is a current Biochemistry major at Washington University in Saint Louis where she is a runner on the Women’s Cross Country Team. She will be working in the Garcia Lab this summer to investigate the role of cardiac fibroblasts as drivers of fibrosis and inflammation in the Single Ventricle Heart.
June 2025
May 2025
The Garcia Lab visited Nara, Japan for the XXV International society for Heart Research World Congress Meeting!
Tasha, Mary, and Praveen all had poster presentations - Importantly, we fed the bowing deer, ate lots of good food, toured several cities, and made lots of lab memories!
Garcia Lab Outing: Mystic Escape Room
We went to our first Escape Room “The Book Of Souls” - our team “The Powerhouse of the Cell” escaped in 47 minutes! It was so much fun to get out of the lab and put our brains to use in a different way - We can’t wait to do it again!
April 2025
Our lab was the winner of the coveted Best in Show “Golden Pipette” in this year’s Cardiology Research Art Contest
Our winning artwork, together with art from the lab of Dr. Brisa Pena, was officially displayed on the CU Cardiology “Wall of Fame”
February, 2025
The Garcia Lab attended the American Heart Association’s annual Scientific Sessions in Chicago, IL
Mary gave a moderated oral poster presentation, while Ashley and Praveen presented physical posters!
November 2024
The Garcia Lab attended the 2nd bi-annual Additional Ventures - Single Ventricle Investigator Meeting (SVIM) in Denver, CO
Ashley gave an oral presentation while Mary and Praveen presented posters!
October 2024
Drs. Woulfe and Garcia received a 1-year Interdisciplinary Research Award from the Ludeman Family Center for Women’s Health Research to uncover the role of estradiol on sarcomeric and mitochondrial cross-talk in the female heart!
October 2024
Dr. Garcia attended the International Society for Heart Research (ISHR) North American Section meeting in Long Beach, CA where she gave an invited talk!
August 2024
We welcomed our first PhD rotation student, Cristina Velasquez! Cristina is a first-year graduate student in the Biomedical Sciences Program! We look forward to having Cristina join us for 3-months as she completes her rotation project focused on Discerning the metabolic and proinflammatory characteristics of circulating immune cells in pediatric Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS)
September 2024
Drs. Fabrice Dabertrand and Tasha Garcia were awarded a new multi-PI NIH/NINDS RF1 Award to study brain capillary endothelial cell energetics and neurovascular uncoupling in dementia. Their team, Colorado Neurovascular Energetics, is one of 6 awardee groups in the NINDS Center Without Walls (CWOW) to advance the science of Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia (VCID).
September 2024
Team LANG (Lang, Abbott, Nakano, and Garcia) was awarded a $2.25M Additional Ventures - American Heart Association 3-year Collaborative Science Award to study the Consequences of Impaired Immune Cell Homeostasis in Single Ventricle Congenital Heart Disease .
August 2024
Tasha’s 5-year R01 application to Study Glycosphingolipid-Mediated Cardiomyocyte and Immune Cell Dysfunction in Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome was officially awarded!
May 2024
Tasha was invited to her alma matter [UNT] to participate in an NIH-funded Career Panel for graduate students