Welcome to the Thoracic Aorta Research Lab at Michigan Medicine

Please Contact Us if you would like to know more about our research!

The Thoracic Aorta Research Lab was established in 2012 and is housed in the Department of Cardiac Surgery at Michigan Medicine. Our group brings together surgeons and researchers to develop novel approaches that address clinical needs in human aortic research and surgical intervention. Clinically, we aim to improve the surgical outcome of various procedures targeting thoracic aortic aneurysm and dissection.

In translational research, our team combines human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC), gene editing, tissue engineered blood vessels, and functional genomics to reveal the molecular mechanisms underlying aortic aneurysm and dissection. We are interested in characterizing novel mutations contributing to aortopathy in aneurysm patients, and developing personalized therapies to prevent disease progression. Our tissue engineered blood vessels using hiPSC-derived cells provide an accurate model to capture pathological changes during aneurysm formation, facilitating the development of novel therapies.