Research

Our current and future research interests aim to utilize molecular, cellular, and whole animal approaches to understand physiology/pathophysiology in different organ systems. We utilize cellular models to understand the cellular and sub-cellular consequences of various pathophysiologies. These isolated cell systems are more amenable to biochemical and molecular interventions to understand in more sophisticated detail the mechanisms that are at play in disease and can be exploited to elicit protective responses. Ultimately, we use translational models to better understand whole organ and animal function. We are interested in how cellular signaling is organized and coordinated in cells and how this is impacted by various disease processes. My laboratory is specifically interested in how membrane microdomains such as caveolae interact and communicate with intracellular organelles such as mitochondria to impact cell, organ, and animal physiology. I hope that this multi level approach to the study of disease will lead to fundamental discoveries related to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer and aging.