Chronic inflammation has been implicated in the development of hypertension (high blood pressure). The primary focus of my research is to understand and enhance endogenous nervous and immune system interactions that control inflammation in order to halt the progression of hypertension. To investigate this, we use lupus as the disease model since chronic inflammation contributes to the prevalent hypertension and renal injury in this devastating autoimmune disease that primarily affects young women.
I am currently the PI of a federally-funded grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and a private grant from the Lupus Research Alliance. The federal grant will investigate the regulation of inflammation in the kidney that, if accumulated and left unchecked, can lead to hypertension and renal injury. The private grant will test the efficacy of a cholinergic agonist as an anti-inflammatory therapy in lupus mice and determine whether this drug has positive outcomes on behavior. Work in my lab will include integrative physiological approaches complimented with molecular, cellular, and immunological techniques. A goal of the lab is to take what is learned in the animal model of lupus hypertension and translate it into human studies that could benefit both lupus and hypertensive populations.