Therapeutic Development for Vascular Calcification
Vascular calcification is a major predictor of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality with no current therapeutics. We are investigating the potential of EGFR inhibition for intervention (A) [Bakhshian Nik et. al. 2023] and a relaxin receptor agonist (B). Given they exhibit clinical safety, the current data shows these therapeutics may be a propitious target in prevent vascular calcification.
Cellular Contributions in Aortic Valve Development and Disease
We implement and combine microscopic tissue tensile testing [Chaparro et.al. 2020] (top right), transcriptomic analysis techniques (bottom right), and protein level staining and quantification techniques (bottom left) to study asymmetric cellular heterogeneity in the aortic valve and its implication on development and disease.
Risk Assessment of Cardiac and Vascular Diseases
Our goal is to develop accessible and noninvasive techniques to assess the presence and progression of cardiac and vascular diseases. We are developing new techniques to analyze cardiac signals such as heart sounds [Dargam et. al. 2022] and electrocardiograms and identify markers indicative of disease. We are also developing an immunofluidic point of care platform [Tong et. al. 2021] to evaluate coronary artery stages and heart failure by using clinically relevant cardiac biomarkers.
