John D. Imig, PhD

Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology

Can a research laboratory make major breakthroughs and develop novel therapeutics for cardiovascular and kidney diseases? The answer is a resounding, YES!

Dr. Imig’s research has focused on a class of fatty acids, arachidonic acid metabolites that have been targeted by drugs for the treatment of pain, fever, blood clotting, and asthma. Utilizing animal models of cardiovascular and kidney diseases his laboratory has demonstrated that arachidonic acid metabolites called epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) and the enzyme soluble epoxide hydrolase are not properly regulated during disease states. Over the past decade his laboratory was a major driving force in the development of drugs that inhibit the soluble epoxide hydrolase enzyme and one of these drugs is currently being tested in humans for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). More recently, the laboratory has focused on developing EET-based drugs for the treatment of hypertension, acute renal failure, and chronic kidney disease. These novel small molecule EET analogs are demonstrating great potential and could one day in the near future be used to treat cardiovascular and kidney diseases in humans.