Vascular Biology Center

The Vascular Biology Center at Georgia Regents University was founded in 1995.  Professor, John D. Catravas served as Director from 1995 to 2011. Professor David Fulton is the current Director.

The purpose for formation of the center was to provide a mechanism for focusing GRU research on the investigation of cellular and integrated vascular function under both normal and pathological conditions. This area of research is of vital importance to human health because cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. The center is comprised of 15 Core Faculty members with diverse but complementary expertise.

In addition, the center has 35 Associate Faculty members who are involved in many collaborative studies with the Core Faculty.

The goal of the center, since its inception, has been to bring together a group of expert cardiovascular researchers who have similar interests. Due to their common interests and the convenience of physically adjoining laboratory space, many productive collaborative research projects have developed among the center faculty. A comprehensive range of expertise that exists among current faculty includes:

• Expertise in six vascular systems (cardiac, coronary, pulmonary, cerebral, retinal, and renal)
• Numerous models of clinical vascular pathologies (ARDS,vasospasm, cardiomyopathy, atherosclerosis, shock, diabetic retinopathy and nephropathy, stroke,hypertension, edema, thromboembolism,acute and chronic renal failure, and more)
• The use of a wide variety ofstate-of-the-art techniques including molecular, genetic, cellular, organ/tissue, and whole animal models.

In addition to research, the center is home to programs targeted at educational goals:

• Sponsors a weekly seminar program that features nationally and internationally recognized speakers;
• Administers a graduate program in Vascular Biology leading to the Ph.D. degree.