Our lab’s overall focus is to understand how vascular elastic fibers, large arteries’ main extracellular matrix, develop and how abnormalities in their development lead to diseases such as aneurysms and hypertension.

En face z-stack images of a mouse mesenteric artery fixed and stained with Alexa 633 hydrazide; images were compiled into a movie. Red = Alexa 633 hydrazide (internal elastic lamina), green = autofluorescence (internal elastic lamina), blue = DAPI (nuclei).
  • Verhoeff van Geison stain of a mouse descending thoracic aorta (black = elastic laminae)
  • Alexa 633 hydrazide staining of a mouse descending thoracic aorta (red = elastic laminae, blue = DAPI-nuclei)