Phillips Lab Research

The research in the Phillips Lab integrates physiology and neuroscience to understand cardiovascular function. Currently, the laboratory has two primary foci: the first is to understand the mechanisms underlying neurovascular regulation in the human brain; the second is to develop a neurostimulation therapy for treating autonomic dysfunction.

We are supported with roughly $2 million in direct current operational funds. This includes generous support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research through a five-year project grant that was ranked second in Canada by the Neuroscience-A Committee (PI: Phillips). We are also supported by a Wings for Life Foundation operating grant, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada through a five-year Discovery Grant (PI: Phillips), as well as the Rick Hansen Institute, and Compute Canada (PI: Phillips). This generous support allows us to answer a number of fascinating questions using the best tools.

Clinical tools used in the lab include vascular and cardiac ultrasound, beat-by-beat blood pressure, cardiac, cerebral and spinal cord MRI, orthostatic stress testing, exercise stress testing, functional electrical stimulation, passive cycling, arterial blood gas reactivity testing (RespirAct Gen IV), both surgically implanted and non-invasive neurostimulation modalities, eye tracking, muscle sympathetic nervous system recordings, etc. Preclinical tools include various tissue clearing methods (CLARITY, uDISCO, iDISCO) arterial cannulation, nerve recordings, spinal cord transection/contusion, and a variety of genetic strains for manipulation (e.g., Th-Cre, PV-Cre). The lab is also employing a novel computational pipeline for managing large data-sets of physiological metrics.