Ayako Makino, Ph.D.

Our research focus centers on the modulation of endothelium function in pathological states and the pathogenic mechanisms involved in the development and progression of coronary and pulmonary vascular diseases in diabetes and pulmonary hypertension.

Vascular endothelial cells play critical roles in vascular functions such as regulation of vascular tone, new vessel formation, and anticoagulant barrier between blood and vascular wall. In many cardiovascular diseases, endothelial cells are injured and/or dysfunctional, leading to subsequent vascular complications. We investigate cellular and molecular mechanisms of endothelial dysfunction in diabetes and pulmonary hypertension, in particular cell-cell communication in endothelial cells and pericytes, calcium handling in the endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria, and post-transcriptional regulation of genes related to endothelial dysfunction.

In my lab, we use multiple in vitro preparations (e.g., freshly isolated endothelial cells and small arteries from mouse and human hearts and lungs), in vivo preclinical animal models (e.g., genetically modified transgenic mice, experimental diabetic and pulmonary hypertension mouse/rat models), and combined techniques (e.g., cardiac hemodynamic assessment, isometric tension measurement, electrophysiology, immunohistochemistry, fluorescence microscopy, high-resolution microscopy, molecular biology, and bioinformatics) to study pathogenic mechanisms of coronary and pulmonary vascular disease.