Vascular Smooth Muscle in Health and Disease

The Zheng Lab was established in 2001 with the goal of studying smooth muscle cell differentiation and proliferation, particularly within the blood vessels, as well as within other systems such as the stomach, trachea, and uterus.

Currently, the lab has several funded research projects, including investigating smooth muscle autophagy and vascular aging (CIHR), the pathophysiological roles of smooth muscle PCSK9 (CIHR), epigenetic regulation of smooth muscle phenotype conversion (NSERC), and the roles of smooth muscle MCPIP1 (HSFC) in vascular disease.

Other research interests include exploring the roles of myocardin in smooth muscle differentiation and proliferation, the pathophysiological roles of 2-methoxyestradiol (an estrogen metabolite) in vascular functions, the effect of uridine adenosine tetraphosphate (Up4A), an endothelium-derived contraction factor, on smooth muscle contractility and proliferation, and the roles of tuberin (encoded by the TSC2 gene) in vascular smooth muscle.

The lab employs a variety of approaches, including in vitro tissue culture, ex vivo contractility assays, and inducible, smooth muscle-specific gene knockout. The lab has also utilized several disease models, such as atherosclerosis in apoE-/- mice, carotid arterial neointima formation and atherosclerosis, hypertension, vascular aging, and abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA).

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (HSFC)

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)