Dr. Stephen Archer is a practicing cardiologist that specializes in the care of patients with various forms of pulmonary hypertension (PH). As a clinician-scientist, he has various research interests in better understanding the mechanism behind PH and developing effective strategies for improving cardiovascular care, and training the next generation of physician-scientists. Below are the specifics of my research investigations:
Pulmonary arterial hypertension: An obliterative pulmonary vasculopathy resulting in right ventricular (RV) failure. I study the cancer-like proliferation/apoptosis imbalance in vasculature and RV.
O2-sensing: Hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction (HPV) matches perfusion to ventilation. Focusing on the “Redox Theory” of HPV, I am interested in assessing the role of a mitochondrial O2-sensor in smooth muscle cells and its effects on ion channels and rho kinases.
Cancer metabolism: In general, I am an expert in mitochondrial and metabolic therapies for PH and cancer, including the role of DRP-1-mediated fission and mitofusin-2-mediated fusion.
Ductus arteriosus (DA): The role of mitochondrial fission in redox-based O2-sensing and its implications for DA constriction which in humans results from the PO2-dependent inhibition of O2-sensitive Kv channels in myocytes.
Dr. Stephen Archer has interests in Pulmonary Hypertension, Translational Medicine, Health Systems, Public Health, and Quality Improvement, Congenital Anomalies, Heart Failure, and Lung Cancer research