I am a cell biologist and biochemist, with over 20 years’ experience in studies related to fundamental mechanisms of urologic disease. The major focus of research in my group is to decipher the molecular mechanisms that underlie pathologic tissue remodeling and their functional consequences in the urinary tract and other smooth muscle-rich hollow organs. In research terms, the urinary tract is woefully understudied by comparison with other organ systems, particularly in the context of benign (i.e. non-malignant) conditions. This is in spite of prevalent, debilitating urinary tract conditions that are exceptionally costly to society. Current pharmacotherapy for the most common benign urologic conditions, such as overactive bladder, treats symptoms not underlying causes.

Thus, a major focus of my group is to map the signaling networks that are perturbed in conditions leading to urinary tract dysfunction, with the long-term goal of identifying novel therapeutic targets. We use physiologically relevant models to recapitulate salient events that arise in functional or anatomic obstruction of the urinary tract in vivo, together with transcriptomics and proteomics analysis to identify key regulators of response. In addition, we are developing novel in vitro approaches to measure functional endpoints in the bladder and other hollow organs, including a precision-cut bladder slice technology that allows for concurrent assessment of contraction, stiffness and molecular correlates in intact tissues.