Chelsea Magin

Research Description

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a form of a pulmonary vascular disease that causes high blood pressure in the lungs. It results in impaired blood flow and increased blood pressure which over time causes damage to the heart. This disease impacts men and women differently and the cause remains unknown. One way to learn more about the initiation, progression, and treatment of a disease like PAH is to study how cells from male and female patients respond to pulmonary vascular diseases. signals outside the body. Dr. Magin and an interdisciplinary team will create realistic models of pulmonary blood vessels using materials with mechanical properties that match real pulmonary blood vessels and 3D printing. They aim to use these models to test how cells from male and female patients respond differently to changes in their environment, like stiffening from scarring in PAH, to gain a better understanding of how to cure pulmonary vascular diseases.