Lorin Olson Lab Homepage

Discoveries that make a difference.

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Scar tissue

Scar tissue is formed as a byproduct of wound repair or inflammation. Healthy tissue (muscle, red) develops fibrosis when scar tissue (blue) restricts normal function.

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Collagen

Collagen fibers (red, right) are the main component of connective tissue, for example in the submucosa of the intestine (left).

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Damaged Skin

The wound environment stimulates nearby cells to become myofibroblasts (green) and secrete collagen to help repair damage.

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Arteries and veins

The walls of arteries (left) and veins (right) are structurally and functionally distinct because of differences in their mural cells and connective tissue.

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Aorta

The aorta is largest blood vessel and has a thick wall of mural cells (red) and collagen-secreting fibroblasts (green).

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Vascular network

Blood vessels are made of mural cells (orange) and endothelial cells (green). Our research focuses on the biology of mural cells.

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Pericytes

Capillary networks (brown) have specialized mural cells called pericytes (blue). Scientists are beginning to understand the function of pericytes in health and diseases like fibrosis

Our laboratory is interested in understanding how wound repair and scar formation are regulated at the cellular and molecular level. All organisms have a robust wound repair response involving the generation of new tissue and extracellular matrix (especially collagen) to replace what was damaged or lost. However, diseases such as atherosclerosis and fibrosis resemble wound repair gone wrong. We approach this question by studying platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) signaling, which regulates the conversion of quiescent mural cells and fibroblasts into activated, matrix-producing cells called myofibroblasts. PDGF is important for normal wound repair and has been implicated in several chronic diseases involving scar tissue and fibrosis including atherosclerosis, scleroderma, and cancer. We are using a combination of tissue-specific mutation in mice, genetic background alteration, and lineage tracing to understand how scar formation occurs in disease and how it might be modulated to control disease. There is a tremendous need for new technology to solve the medical problems of fibrosis and atherosclerosis, and this can only come through a better understanding of the wound repair process.

 

Contact Olson Lab
Cardiovascular Biology Research Program
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
825 NE 13th Street, MS 45
Oklahoma City, OK 73104-5005
Telephone
Lab: (405) 271-7390
Office: (405) 271-7535
Email: Lorin-Olson@omrf.org
Postdoc Positions Available!
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