Nader Sheibani

Focus Groups

Neuroscience/Neuropathology

Signal Transduction

Education

PhD, University of Nebraska Medical Center

Research Summary

The role of cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions in vascular development and neovascularization

Research Detail

Our laboratory studies the molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate vascular development and angiogenesis. We are interested in how alterations in normal regulatory mechanisms, under pathological conditions such as ischemia, diabetes, and aging, lead to vascular dysfunction and growth of new blood vessels. We use the postnatal developing retinal vasculature as a model to study all aspects of vascular development. In addition, we have established a number of mouse models to study neovascularization associated with aging, ischemia and diabetes. Our in vivo studies are complemented with our unique ability to culture various retinal vascular cells from wild type and transgenic mice for in vitro mechanistic studies. The utilization of these models has provided novel insight into the role of a number of genes in regulation of vascular development and neovascularization. We are also utilizing our vascular cells for development of cell-based assays for identification of small molecules with potential therapeutic benefit for various diseases with a neovascular component. We are also working with our colleagues in the department of Biomedical Engineering on developing vascular mimetic three dimensional units using defined synthetic materials for high throughput screening of chemicals with adverse effects on vascular function, as well as identifying potential novel pro- and/or anti-angiogenic agents

PubMed Search For Nader Sheibani