Laboratory of Molecular and Vascular
Pathobiology
The research in the Ren Laboratory seeks to determine critical molecular and transcriptional signaling pathways in the transdifferentiation of vascular endothelial cells, vascular niche in stem cell maitenance and self-renewal, angiogenesis (the formation of new blood vessels from preexisting blood vessels), and arteriogenesis (de novo formation of small arteries), and to develop molecular strategies for stimulating or inhibiting the growth of new blood vessels. The current research focuses on how extracellular signaling couples epigenetic and transcriptional regulation of endothelial cell differentiation and functional angiogenesis to control the development of cardiac, peripheral and cerebral vessels in heart and vascular disease, cancer, obesity, neurological disorders and the cardiovascular complications of diabetes. Elucidating the cellular and molecular mechanisms of endothelial cell differentiation and functional angiogenesis using their established state-of-the-art approaches and innovative transgenic animals as well as human specimens will aid in the understanding of the pathobiology of these conditions and in the discovery of innovative and effective therapeutic strategies to promote public health of human being.
