Research Overview

Our lab is interested in vascular cell communication and signaling. We're specifically interested in how the cells of the blood vessel wall communicate with each other, with surrounding cells, and with the blood itself. These behaviors underlie what can be thought of as "blood vessel integrity" i.e. the range of functions that are exhibited by blood vessels in their normal state. For example, it has been shown that if direct gap junctionally mediated cellular communication between vascular smooth muscle cells of the arterial wall is blocked, the vessel can no longer maintain normal tone: this means that it can no longer respond normally to many vasoactive stimuli. We're particularly interested in the microvasculature, because this is where vascular resistance is controlled, where exchange of material with tissues takes place, and where immune and inflammatory responses are manifest. Basically, we'd just like to understand how normal microvessels work! Since cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of our adult population, and as much of this is primarily vascular disease or disorder, understanding normal blood vessel function seems to us to be a good place to start!