P. Charles Lin, Ph.D.

Vascular biology plays a vital role in the progression of many debilitating diseases, including cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. Vascular disease is the most common cause of death and disability in Western societies. Understanding the vascular system is critical in the war against these diseases. Research in Dr. Lin's laboratory centers on the mechanisms that govern blood vessel formation and vascular homeostasis. Vascular networks form to satisfy the metabolic demands of tissue growth during development. When we reach adulthood, the vascular endothelium becomes quiescent. However, under disease conditions, this delicate balance is disturbed and endothelium is reactivated.

What distinguishes physiological angiogenesis during normal growth from pathological angiogenesis in diseases is an important question, which has major implications in therapeutic interventions. We believe a major difference is inflammation. We further hypothesize that tissue injury/insult leads to inflammation, which triggers pathological angiogenesis. To this end, we are focusing on the interaction between inflammation and pathological angiogenesis, which offer the potential to preferentially target angiogenesis in disease conditions and spare normal blood vessels. Research in the lab combines genetic and biochemical approaches, in vitro, three-dimensional organotypic culture and animal models as well as non-invasive imaging technology, to dissect the molecular mechanisms of vascular formation and homeostasis during disease progression.