Griffin Lab

Job Description

In my lab, we are interested in the development and healthy maintenance of blood vessels. Certain diseases require blood vessel development for their progression; tumors, for example, thrive on blood flow. In those situations, we want to know how to stop or reverse vessel growth in order to halt disease progression. At other times, such as when wounds are healing, vessel growth is necessary and positive. In those cases, we want to learn how to build new vessels.

Blood vessel development is similar in mice and humans, so we use mice to study and manipulate vessels. By altering one or two genes at a time in mice, we can begin to understand how those genes contribute to blood vessel development and maintenance. We ultimately hope to identify genes that are critical for building and protecting healthy blood vessels, since those genes would be important therapeutic targets for controlling the growth and upkeep of blood vessels in our bodies.

Publications

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