Heart & Vascular Disease

Biochemistry in vascular medicine

Professor Roland Stocker's laboratory investigates processes related to the hardening of the blood vessels, a disease called atherosclerosis.

During the course of their research, the group discovered that increasing the activity of a protein, known as heme oxygenase-1, protects the body's arteries from becoming diseased. Under his Medical Foundation Fellowship, Professor Stocker and his team are trying to understand how this enzyme protects against atherosclerosis, and how this property can be used for drug development.