Research Unit: Heterogeneity and phenotypic plasticity of pulmonary and vascular smooth muscle cells

Medical biochemist by training, I specialized in understanding molecular and cellular mechanisms that are involved in maintaining normal pulmonary vascular function and structure. The focus of my research unit is to understand the extent of heterogeneity in pulmonary smooth muscle cells and to identify key mechanisms regulating maintenance and transition between different populations in health and disease. To achieve this, we are combining state-of-the-are inducible cell type specific transgenic animal models, detailed physiological, morphological and molecular characterization of diverse animal models with pulmonary vascular disease and human patient samples, especially using single cell transcriptomics and high-resolution multispectral imaging technology