Grant: Early Career Investigator Awards

Pericytes are cells that wrap around the smallest blood vessels known as capillaries. Recently, pericytes in the brain were shown to regulate blood flow and help maintain the blood-brain-barrier, the protective border that separates the brain from the blood. This suggests that pericytes are very important for conserving a healthy brain, but there is still much we do not know about these cells. In fact, abnormal pericytes may account for blood flow changes during aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD). My work uses advanced fluorescence microscopes and genetic tools to observe pericyte calcium signaling and blood flow in intact animal models. We aim to better understand how pericytes communicate with other nearby cells and how they influence blood flow or the blood-brain-barrier. We will then build on our work in healthy brain tissue and follow the same pericytes and blood vessels through adulthood to old age. This will be compared to a mouse model of AD. My work is important because it will provide new knowledge of pericyte signaling and communication. We will also show how pericytes regulate blood flow or the blood brain barrier and how these change with aging or during AD. Our work may ultimately result in new therapies to target pericytes and slow the progression of aging or Alzheimer's disease.