Research Interests
Our research interests concern the contribution of the kidney to the etiology of essential hypertension and edema. This research has generally focused on the roles of hormones, neurotransmitters and their receptors in renal physiology and pathophysiology. These aspects of renal function are being studied using cell and molecular biological approaches. Three areas are of current interest:
- The general pharmacological properties of a1-adrenergic receptors,
- adrenergic receptor subtypes, their locations, expression and their function in the mammalian kidney,
- The role of vasopressin in volume-expanded forms of hypertension.
Research techniques employed in my lab include primary cell culture, radioimmunoassay and column chromatography to study cell signaling, radioligand binding and western blotting methods to measure receptor protein expression and molecular biological methods such as the polymerase chain reaction, cloning techniques and antisense oligomer development.
