Yale’s YCVRC Examines Cell Biology, Genetics, and Stem Cells

 

Yale Cardiovascular Research Center
Image: medicine.yale.edu

An accomplished medical researcher and lecturer, Michael Simons serves as a professor of medicine and cell biology at the Yale University School of Medicine. He has held this position for nearly a decade. Michael Simons also is a Founding Director of the Yale Cardiovascular Research Center (YCVRC).

Operating within the Yale School of Medicine’s Section of Cardiovascular Medicine, YCVRC houses more than 110 investigators–faculty members, postdoctoral trainees, and undergraduate and graduate students who are involved in translational and basic research within the field. Many of the studies completed by the investigators at YCVRC focus on such topics as developmental and cell biology, cardiomyocyte biology, stem cells, and genetics.

To complete their studies, investigators at YCVRC have access to a wide range of facilities. The research center maintains its own zebrafish facility, along with a cell isolation core and microsurgery core. The core laboratories at YCVRC also encompass mouse breeding, imaging, mouse genotyping, and confocal microscopy.

In addition to these facilities, researchers can use the Yale Translational Research Imaging Center facilities to complete studies on cardiovascular device development and multi-modality imaging.

To stay in operation, YCVRC receives funding from a variety of sources. Funding includes National Institutes of Health training grants and foundation funding from such entities as the Leducq Foundation. The Connecticut Stem Foundation, American Heart Association, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute have also provided funding to the center.

Angiogenesis in the Human Body

 

Michael Simons, Yale
Image: medicine.yale.edu

Professor Michael Simons, the founder of the Yale University Cardiovascular Research Center, has been involved in clinical cardiology for over two decades. A veteran researcher, Dr. Michael Simons of Yale University is a leading expert in the field of angiogenesis.

Angiogenesis is defined as the growth of capillaries and bloods vessels within the body. This process is essential in the body’s ability to heal and reproduce. It restores blood flow to injured tissues, helping to heal the wounds, and in women, it assists the monthly reproductive cycle by reconstructing the lining of the uterus and by forming the placenta during pregnancy.

A healthy human body regulates angiogenesis through producing a good balance of growth and inhibitor factors. When growers exceed inhibitors, the balance is tilted to favor the growth of blood vessels. When inhibitors outnumber growth factors, the blood vessel growth process halts. The body, therefore, continuously works to maintain a harmonious balance between the two.

Dysregulated angiogenesis, whether it favors blood vessel growth or stops growth, plays a role in the occurrence of many diseases, including cancer, macular degeneration, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, coronary artery disease, and stroke.