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Dr. Steven Houser, Director of CVRC, in the lab Flourence microscopy image of cardiac myocyte derived from a cardiac stem cell. Remus Berretta, laboratory technician, performing a laboratory assay

INDEPENDENCE BLUE CROSS

cardiovascular research center

The Independence Blue Cross Cardiovascular Research Center (CVRC) is a consortium of basic and clinical scientists with a broad mission to better define the causes and cures of cardiovascular diseases. Operationally, the CVRC facilitates multilevel, interdisciplinary collaborations that help target basic research towards clinical challenges and enables translation of discoveries into novel approaches for the detection, treatment and prevention of debilitating cardiovascular disorders. Our major research themes at present are:

  • Cellular and molecular bases of human heart failure, and
  • Biology of cardiac recovery and reverse remodeling

Other research themes include:

  • Biology of proliferative arteriopathy (restenosis and allograft arteriopathy)
  • Transplant immunology
  • Device-based therapies for heart failure
  • Exercise physiology
  • Endothelial modulation of vascular tone
  • Cardiac developmental biology
  • Role of stem cells in myocardial repair

A wide spectrum of in vitro techniques, relevant animal models and patient-based research methods are employed by CVRC investigators.