Alexander Lab

Original artwork by Brigette Jia

Projects

Our laboratory performs basic/translational research to understand the role of counter-regulatory immune mechanisms in the pathogenesis of hypertension, including regulatory and exhausted T cells, with the goal of therapeutically targeting these cells as novel therapies.

Ongoing projects include determining roles of:

  1. Immune checkpoints in the pathogenesis of hypertension
  2. Novel regulatory T cell subsets in the pathogenesis of hypertension and microvascular dysfunction
  3. Mechanisms by which the autoimmune disease psoriasis enhances hypertension severity and related end-organ dysfunction

We perform cutting edge basic and translational research integrating vascular biology and immunology using a variety of approaches including molecular biology, physiology, highly dimensional single cell analysis, and human genetics.

Our laboratory is also integrated with the translational research infrastructure in the Divisions of Clinical Pharmacology and Cardiovascular Medicine to enable novel studies on human tissues and immune cells.