Our work aims to expand our understanding of the heart, blood and the vast network of arteries, veins, and capillaries that make up this biological system. In addition, our science can extend to related systems that interact with cardiovascular function and health.
These five areas of concentration encompass the majority of our researchers’ labs. Click on an individual area to see our scientists that share a focus.
This area studies the function and processes responsible for providing adequate blood flow to meet metabolic needs of the body’s tissues. It involves understanding the determinants of tissue blood flow, the physiology of the heart, and the factors that influence cardiac function and blood flow to the heart.
This area studies how cells and their internal parts are produced, translocated and regulated by organelles, extracellular matrix, proteins, receptors and signaling pathways. It focuses on how molecules are transported, the signals involved in this transport and interactions between molecules that make that movement possible as well.
Research interests of the group include the response of blood vessels to mechanical forces caused by changing blood pressure and blood flow, the regulation of vascular wall permeability, the involvement of the cell membrane in signals that regulate blood vessel function, the communication between vascular cells to regulate tissue blood flow, and the assembly of new blood vessels and disassembly of existing blood vessels. The overall goals of this group are to identify mechanisms of disease and identify potential diagnostic targets and therapeutic strategies. Investigators use a variety of experimental models at the cellular, isolated vessel, intact tissue and whole animal scales.
These vital functions work to maintain homeostasis in the body, and their study helps us understand the complex coordination and signaling from the nervous system.
Signals from the central nervous system control the heart and blood vessels. In turn, that affects blood pressure and organ blood flow. Understanding this relationship will allow investigators to better determine how to treat diseases such as heart failure, hypertension and respiratory disorders.
Specific questions include: What mechanisms are involved in altered reflex control of sympathetic nervous system activity and blood pressure in acute and chronic hypoxia? What alters cardiovascular regulation?
With a focus on autonomic dysfunction after spinal cord injury, this area emphasizes lower urinary tract and cardiovascular disorders. Utilizing a myriad of multidisciplinary approaches, our team explores therapeutic strategies to rebuild neuronal pathways for autonomic functional recovery.
Another goal is to develop impactful diagnostic and interventional therapies to improve long-term health outcomes following insult to cortical brain structures. Preclinical models of Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias are used to develop novel early diagnostic profiles of these pathologies based on multimodal cortical “signatures”.
Our researchers also study how the brain repairs and recovers after ischemic stroke as well as mechanisms underlying pathogenesis and neuronal degeneration at the interface of metabolic biology in neurodegenerative diseases.