Overview

The Renovascular Research Laboratory of Lilach O. Lerman, M.D., Ph.D., focuses on the development and application of techniques to study renal and cardiovascular physiology and pathophysiology.

Dr. Lerman, the lab's principal investigator and director, leads a dedicated team whose research goal is to help advance knowledge about the vulnerability of the heart and kidney as target organs and to ultimately develop and improve existing strategies to prevent and manage the spectrum of cardiorenal disease.

Areas of interest

Specific areas of research interest in our lab include:

  • The effects of cardiovascular risk factors such as early atherosclerosis, metabolic syndrome and obesity on myocardial and kidney microvascular function, remodeling and adaptation.
  • Pathophysiology of renovascular and microvascular disease, hypertension and cardiac adaptation, including inflammation, cellular senescence and mitochondrial dysfunction.
  • Cardiorenal interactions.
  • Developing and applying novel therapies such as cell-based therapy for renal and cardiac regeneration and repair.
  • Effects of ischemia on renal repair.
  • Developing, interpreting and implementing physiological imaging and image analysis techniques using multidetector computerized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Our lab is involved in short-term and long-term studies with research tools that include wet lab methods, molecular biology, sequencing and bioinformatics, plus sophisticated high-resolution CT, MRI, computer-based modeling and image analysis.

Disease mechanisms are often initially investigated in vivo using imaging and subsequently correlated with tissue alterations determined with ex vivo or in vitro techniques.

Our lab is exploring potential therapeutic targets and interventions that include regenerative medicine, revascularization and novel therapeutic interventions.

Affiliations

Our lab has several affiliations at Mayo Clinic to help leverage research expertise: