Cardiovascular Biology Lab

What We Do

Cardiovascular disease affects more than 80 million people in the United States alone (American Heart Association). This includes common disorders such as coronary artery disease resulting in myocardial infarction, heart failure and stroke, and rare disorders such as hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT), characterized by arteriovenous malformations (AVMs). Many different genes and signaling pathways contribute to cardiovascular disease.

Our goal is to understand the role of Bone Morphogenetic Proteins (BMPs) and their inhibitors in cardiovascular development and disease, and the various mechanisms by which they exert their effects. Our work focuses on (1) vascular calcification and the endothelium, (2) VMs versus normal vessel formation, (3) cardiovascular stem cells derived from fat tissue, and (4) BMP inhibitors in tissue development.