Research

The branching of blood vessels in our body is a metabolically taxing process. The endothelial cells lining the blood vessels respond to angiogenic growth factors by increasing cell proliferation and acquiring the ability to migrate. These changes must also be accompanied by a re-wiring of the metabolism to suit the energy and biomass demands. Our group will elucidate how metabolic plasticity in endothelial cells alters vesicle trafficking and cell polarity during angiogenesis. While the use of growth factors to stimulate angiogenesis has failed in clinical trials, having a handle on endothelial metabolism can potentially help us improve vascularisation of ischaemic tissues, a long standing challenge for angiogenesis researchers.

Confocal Microscopy