Vadim Ten, MD, PhD

I have broad background in clinical and translational neonatology, with specific expertise in the role of cellular bioenergetics failure in diseases of ischemia-reperfusion injury to the developing brain. The major contribution of my research is in the field of the neonatal brain and lung injury. Our team was the first to introduce a mouse neonatal sensorimotor reflex performance as a neurofunctional assessment of the extent of brain injury following hypoxic-ischemic brain damage. We also have determined the role of complement activation in evolution of the ischemia-reperfusion brain injury in neonates. Specifically, we have found that there is no contribution of the terminal activated complement complex in neuronal damage following perinatal hypoxic-ischemic brain injury. In my other work, we have demonstrated the role of reactive oxygen species originating from mitochondrial complex I in oxidative damage of the developing brain following perinatal hypoxic-ischemic insult. Finally, we have developed a novel animal model of perinatal diffuse white matter injury in which a major white matter injury phenotype is reproduced without cellular demise. Therefore, this model serves as an experimental tool to determine new, not related to the cellular death, mechanisms of diffuse white matter injury. 

1. Yoval-Sánchez B, Guerrero I, Ansari F, Niatsetskaya Z, Siragusa M, Magrane J, Ten V, Konrad C, Szibor M, Galkin A. Effect of alternative oxidase (AOX) expression on mouse cerebral mitochondria bioenergetics. Redox Biol. 2024 Nov; 77:103378.

2. Yoval-Sánchez B, Guerrero I, Chen Q, Sosunov S, Ansari F, Siragusa M, Konrad C, Niatsetskaya Z, Stepanova A, Starkov AA, Khruschev S, Magrane J, Nikitina AA, Bereshchenko O, Zhou P, Zhou L, Szibor M, Wittig I, Manfredi G, Gross SS, Ten V, Galkin A. Rescuing Ischemic Brain Injury by Rewiring Mitochondrial Electron Flow. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2025 Sep 22:2025.05.19.650489. doi: 10.1101/2025.05.19.650489. PMID: 40475414; PMCID: PMC12139768.

3. Zirpoli H, Bernis ME, Sabir H, Manual Kollareth DJ, Hamilton JA, Huang N, Ng J, Sosunov SA, Gaebler B, Ten VS, Deckelbaum RJ. Omega-3 fatty acid diglyceride emulsions as a novel injectable acute therapeutic in neonatal hypoxic-ischemic brain injury. Biomed Pharmacother. 2024 Jun;175:116749. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2024.116749. 

4. Ansari F, Yoval B, Niatsetskaya Z, Ten V, Wittig I, Galkin A. How many molecules of mitochondrial complex I are in a cell? Anal Biochem. 2022 Jun 1;646: 114646

5. Yoval-Sánchez B, Ansari F, James J, Niatsetskaya Z, Sosunov S, Filipenko P, Tikhonova IG, Ten V, Wittig I, Rafikov R, Galkin A. Redox-dependent loss of flavin by mitochondria complex I is different in brain and heart. Redox Biol. 2022 May;51:102258. doi: 10.1016/j.redox.2022.102258. Epub 2022 Feb 6. PMID: 35189550; PMCID: PMC8861397.

6. Ansari F, Yoval-Sánchez B, Niatsetskaya Z, Sosunov S, Stepanova A, Garcia C, Owusu-Ansah E, Ten V, Wittig I, Galkin A. Quantification of NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (complex I) content in biological samples. J Biol Chem. 2021 Oct;297(4):101204. 

7. Jessica E. Shui, Wei Wang, Helu Liu, Anna Stepanova, Grace Liao, Jun Qian, Xingbin Ai, Vadim Ten, Jining Lu, Wellington V. Cardoso. Prematurity alters the progenitor cell program of the upper respiratory tract of neonates. Sci Rep. 2021; 11: 10799.  Published online 2021 May 24. PMCID: PMC8144386

8. Sosunov S, Niatsetskaya Z, Stepanova A, Galkin A, Juliano C, Ratner V and Ten V. Developmental window of vulnerability to white matter injury driven by sublethal intermittent hypoxemia. Ped. Research. 2022  PMID: 33947998)

9. Ten V, Stepanova A, Neginskaya M, Sosunov S, Ratner V, Niatsetskaya Z, Starkov A. Mitochondrial dysfunction and permeability transition in neonatal brain and lung injuries. Cells. 2021. Mar 5;10(3):569. doi: 10.3390/cells10030569.PMID: 33807810 

Dr. Ten’s lab is an NIH-funded team of investigators focused on mechanisms of neonatal diseases driven by organ developmental failure due to prematurity. The team of investigators has developed two original neonatal murine models of diseases: Alveolar developmental arrest, the disease known as neonatal bronchopulmonary dysplasia, and the model of Diffuse White Matter Injury that manifests with permanent cerebral hypomyelination and sensorimotor deficit.

The main mechanistic concept is that the arrest of pulmonary development or failure of primary cerebral myelination is caused by sublethal mitochondrial dysfunction in the cells that define organ maturation. For example, the failure of oligodendrocytes to mature into their myelin-producing state. In addition, Dr. Ten’s lab studies mitochondrial mechanisms of cellular death following neonatal hypoxia-ischemia brain injury.

Funding

• R01NS100850 (PI, Ten V) 04/01/2017-03/31/2022: Mitochondrial complex-I as a target for metabolic resuscitation in perinatal hypoxic-ischemic brain injury.
• R0 NS099109-1 (PI, Ten V), 09/01/2016 – 08/30/2022: Mitochondrial dysfunction and white matter injury.
• R01 NS088197-01-06 (MPI V. Ten and R. Deckelbaum)   04/2021 – 09/2026 Omega-3 fatty acids, acute neuroprotection via mitochondria. Department of Pediatrics, RWJMS Start-up Research Fund 2021

Undergraduate Graduate and Professional 
University of College: Minsk State Medical Institute,
City, State: Minsk, Republic of Belarus. 
Degree/discipline: Medical Doctor (MD)        Date awarded: (08/1984)                                                                                                                         

Graduate and Professional
University of College: Minsk State Medical Institute, 
City, State: Minsk, Republic of Belarus. 
Degree/discipline: Medical Doctor (MD)        Date awarded: (08/1984)

POSTGRADUATE TRAINING

Internship and Residencies
Location: Minsk State Medical Institute Children’s Hospital #4.
Belorussian Pediatric Surgical Center, Minsk 
Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY 
Discipline: Pediatrics
Inclusive Dates: July 1984 – August 1985 (internship, Minsk, Belarus)
                          July 1985 – September 1989 (Pediatric Anesthesiology Residency, Minsk)
                           July, 1996 – July, 1999 (internship and residency, USA)

Research Fellowships
Location:       Minsk State Medical Institute, Minsk, Belarus
                     Columbia University Medical Center, NY, USA 
Discipline:     Pediatric Anesthesiology and Neonatal Perinatal Medicine 
Inclusive Dates: July 1985 – September 1989 (Minsk, Belarus) Obtained degree: PhD
                          July 1999 – July 2002 (Columbia University, NY, USA

Postdoctoral Appointments

Location: Columbia University Medical Center 
Discipline: Neonatal Perinatal Medicine 
Inclusive Dates: July 1999 – July 2002

Title: Certificate of Appreciation and Recognition of over $500,000 in NIH and equivalent funding
Awarded By: Columbia University
Dates: 10/ 2018 - 2020 
 
Title: Second Award for Young Investigators, International Congress “New Frontiers in Neonatology”. Innsbruck. Austria
Awarded By: European Pediatric Society
Date: 02/2005.

Title: First Award for Research Achievement (basic science) on 1^st annual Assistant Professor’s Research Symposium of Children’ Hospital of New York
Awarded By: Columbia University Medical Center, NY
Date: 06/2003
 

Title: Bennett-Silverman Scholar / Yong Investigator Research Award.
Awarded By: Columbia University Medical Center
Date: 07/2002
 

Title: Milton Singer Memorial Fellowship Award in Pediatrics.
Awarded By: Columbia University Medical Center
Date: 07/2000 and 2001