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Luscinskas
Laboratory
Vascular
Biology Research
The
vascular endothelium forms a thin, continuous monolayer that lines
the cardiovascular system and thus, is positioned strategically
at the interface between flowing blood and the body’s underlying
tissues and organs. By virtue of this anatomical location, the vascular
endothelium plays a critical role in regulating the blood vessel
wall in normal and pathophysiological settings such as inflammatory
and immune responses. It is now well appreciated that the
endothelium is not just a passive barrier, but in fact, a large
multifunctional organ that actively participates in many critical
processes including inflammation and response to injury, selective
barrier function, vascular tone by producing vasoconstricting and
vasorelaxing substances, hemostatic functions, chronic vascular
remodeling, extracellular matrix and transduction of biomechanical
forces, to name a few.
The
Luscinskas lab’s focus is to understand endothelial dependent mechanisms
in recruitment of chronic inflammatory leukocytes to sites of inflammatory
and immune reactions.
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