With new funding from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the TSI Lab is investigating the vascular biology of “mice from space”, or rather mice that have spent time at the international space station (ISS). This research will provide insight into what physiological effects time in outer space might have on astronauts, with potentially important implications for future longer-term missions, and has the possibility to open the door to fascinating new discoveries that could be used in earth-bound cardiovascular ...

Stem cell transplantation is a quickly developing area of research with the goal of replacing, regenerating, or reinvigorating injured tissues. Allogeneic stem cells are often rejected by the immune system of the transplant recipient, drastically reducing their potential positive therapeutic effects. Upon the advent of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells), the possibility of creating patient-specific stem cell lines gave hope for a reduced risk of rejection. It is apparent, however, that large-scale generation of patient-specific iPS cells is not ...

Organ transplantation is often the only clinical option available for treating certain types of cardiovascular disease. While frequently successfully performed, organ transplantation is often accompanied by immune system complications that result in rejection. The TSI Lab is highly motivated toward designing methods to help prevent such rejection, ranging from investigating the immunogenicity of matrix components of bioengineered tissue for transplantation (Conradi et al. 2015), to use of techniques that allow visualization of immune responses after transplantation (Conradi et al. 2011) ...