The goal of the laboratory is to understand the regulation of blood flow and oxygen delivery to peripheral tissues in humans, and further understand how the basic control mechanisms become impaired with aging and disease.
To do so, we employ modern techniques to answer mechanistic questions regarding vascular control in humans. Many of our studies involve the use of pharmacology to probe physiological mechanisms of blood flow control, and our findings have direct implications regarding basic signaling within blood vessels. We then extend our findings in young healthy humans to address issues regarding how the normal balance between vasoconstriction mediated by the nervous system and “local” vasodilator mechanisms become impaired with advancing age and disease, and thus ultimately provide insight into how we can improve blood flow and oxygen delivery in these at-risk populations.