Stephen M. Black and his integrated cardiovascular laboratory are focused on a number of research projects that intend to expand our knowledge of conditions such as congenital heart disease and pulmonary hypertension. Last week’s blog post focused on two such research projects: Role of altered carnitine metabolism in perinatal endothelial dysfunction and ROS in pulmonary hypertension: role of ADMA. Two more ongoing research projects that have not been discussed on this blog are:
Role of neural NOS in neurotoxicity
Recent data collected in Stephen M. Black’s laboratory indicates that a developing brain is more vulnerable to hypoxia-ischemia (HI) injury than the mature brain due to a deficiency in anti-oxidant enzyme capacity. The severe form of an HI injury is responsible for blindness, epilepsy, mental retardation, and cerebral palsy, so Stephen M. Black recognizes the importance of finding an HI therapy for developing brains. His recent data shows that an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in the presence of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) leads to an increase in HI. The study hypothesizes that hydroxyl radical, generated following activation of NOS and an increase in NO, is the key mediator of neural loss after HI. Stephen M. Black hopes that the results will help identify signaling agents that can be targeted for treating individuals exposed to asphxia.
Endothelial barrier protection and repair in acute lung injury
This Program Project (a medical research project involving more than one of an institution’s medical researchers) is focused on defining the role of vascular endothelial cell (EC) permeability as a component in acute lung injury (ALI). A team of productive experts are focusing on four interrelated projects and 3 cores with the hope that the participating researchers’ state-of-the-art cellular, molecular, biochemical, and physiological approaches will lead to a better understanding of how RhoA and Rac1 are regulated during G- and G+-induced ALI. A future blog post will explain how each project and core will help researchers meet this goal.
Stephen M. Black is focused on these and many other medical research projects. Learn more about his medical research by visiting his Bigsight profile: http://bigsight.org/stephen_m_black
[…] of the research projects discussed in Stephen M. Black’s most recent blog post, “Endothelial barrier protection and repair in acute lung injury”, is a Program Project, […]