Vascular Biology

Group Head: Professor Jenny Gamble

The Vascular Biology Group at Centenary is focused on several areas of investigation. We wish to gain an understanding of the molecular events in angiogenesis (blood vessel formation) and identify what genes and microRNAs control the process and their mechanism of action. The identification of the genes, microRNAs and signalling pathways which regulate progenitor cell release from the bone marrow, what allows their survival in the circulation and what controls their differentiation into mature endothelial cells.

We hope to determine: the factors and signalling pathways involved in regulation of the permeability barrier of endothelial cells; develop a drug which inhibits vascular permeability and which is clinically useful in disease; and find the role of two novel genes in endothelial cells, to understand their involvement in disease (cancer and cardiovascular disease) and determine whether they hold prognostic value or indeed whether they hold promise as potential drug targets for therapy.

Research focus

The endothelium, consisting of a monolayer of cells lining blood vessels, is the gate way between the blood and the tissues. The endothelial cells, therefore, are one of the major regulators of blood homeostasis. They control and are highly selective in regulating the passage of nutrients from blood to tissue and they are key regulators of the development of inflammation, with their growth essential in the expansion of solid tumours.

The research in the Vascular Biology laboratory is directed towards an understanding of how blood vessels form, what are the signals that regulate their function and what are the key alterations in the endothelial cells which lead to vascular dysfunction as seen in cancer and cardiovascular diseases.