Phone: (414) 955-5715
Cardiovascular Physiology, Neurophysiology, Molecular and Cellular Physiology
The mission of our laboratory is to understand mechanisms regulating physiology of the cerebral circulation in health and in disease conditions. Our research interests involve functional identification and characterization of different ion channel types and second messenger systems in vascular smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells, neurons and in brain astrocytes. Studies in the laboratory mainly focus on examining interactions between ion channels and lipid mediators, reactive oxygen species, second messenger systems as well as oxygen deprivation in regulating functions of the cerebral circulation. We also investigate the influence of disease states such as insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, Alzheimer's disease and transient ischemic stroke on ion channel expression and function, and on second messenger systems that could account for vascular and/or neuronal dysfunction in the brain. Cerebral blood flow measured by Laser-Doppler flowmetry is also used as a surrogate of brain function in healthy and diseased subjects to understand if alterations in levels and activities of diverse endogenous mediators and their targets influence dynamics of cerebral blood flow. Our research areas include patch clamp analysis of ion channel currents in the cerebral and coronary vascular smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells neurons and astrocytes or in acute brain slices, monitoring cerebral blood flow using laser-Doppler flowmetry, biochemical assay of lipid metabolites CYP enzymes, proteins, reactive oxygen species, different kinases and phosphatases, molecular analysis of ion channels, and adenosine actions in the brain.