Cardiovascular Biology Program

The Cardiovascular Biology Program addresses the functioning of the heart and vascular system. By examining the roles specific molecules have in normal and abnormal heart activity scientists will be able to better understand the many diseases that ultimately lead to heart failure. The Institute's Cardiovascular Biology Program's discoveries are certain to produce better treatments for heart disease heart attacks and hypertension than are available today.

Another important area of study in the Cardiovascular Biology Program is pulmonary disease. Like blood vessels and gastrointestinal tissue, the air sacks of the lungs depend on smooth muscle cells for their contractile properties, which is an area of Boston Biomedical Research Institute's expertise. Asthma is an inflammatory disease in which airway smooth muscle over-contracts and under-dilates. In some situations, the inflammatory signal may be elicited by bacterial superantigens, whose mechanism of activation of lung epithelial cells is being studied in order to find molecules that antagonize their action.