Neil C. Chi Lab

Cardiovascular diseases, such as heart failure and stroke, are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the US and developed world due to failure to adequately replace lost myocardium and promote vasculogenesis/angiogenesis for supplying blood and oxygen to ischemic tissue. Though recent studies support the existence of a common progenitor for the cardiac and vascular lineages, the underlying developmental cues and transcriptional/epigenetic networks responsible for specification of these cell fates remain unclear. Our laboratory uses cellular, molecular, genetic, and transgenic approaches to study the specification, patterning, and differentiation of these cardiovascular progenitor cells that give rise to the heart and the vascular system.