Bradley S. Dixon

My lab focuses upon understanding the signal transduction pathways controlling the cell cycle in vascular smooth muscle cells. In particular, the lab is examining the cellular mechanisms whereby bradykinin, a vasoactive and natriuretic peptide involved in vascular inflammation inhibits vascular smooth muscle proliferation. This work has important implications for understanding the mechanism of action of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors.

Our clinical research program is focused on translation of basic research on vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation into novel approaches to deal with hemodialysis vascular access failure. The lab has established a database and monitoring program to detect and manage vascular access stenosis problems and we are embarking on clinical trials of pharmacological therapy to prevent this problem. Recent research from this group has reported on the improved survival and lower rate of complications of upper arm native fistulas compared to grafts. Further work is being done to document long-term safety of this type of access.