welcome to the
Center for Integrative Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease (CICMD)
Welcome to The Center for Integrative Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease (CICMD). Our mission is to characterize the etiology and promote prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic disease.
A premise of the CICMD is that collaboration among researchers working in different areas promote novel discoveries that help to understand, prevent or reverse cardiovascular and metabolic disorders, such as hypertension, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and kidney disease Accordingly, the CICMD is truly multidisciplinary and represents basic, clinical and population scientists working on diverse aspects of cardiometabolic disease. The goal is to provide infrastructure and support that foster professional interaction, innovation and discovery. Towards this end, center-related activities focus on mentorship and training, cross-disciplinary collaboration and translation research.
Director
Eric Krause Ph.D.
The Krause laboratory is interested in how stressors act on the nervous system to influence the onset of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, like hypertension, obesity, type-2 diabetes, and chronic kidney disease. Towards this end, we conduct basic research to understand the distinct neural connections that orchestrate how the body responds to stress, how these connections change with the development of cardiometabolic disorders, and whether they can be therapeutically targeted to prevent or reverse disease. Initial experiments combine advanced genetic and neuroanatomical approaches to identify neurons expressing gene products implicated in the etiology of cardiometabolic disorders. Subsequently, we use in vivo calcium imaging with optogenetics or chemogenetics to evaluate how patterns of neural activity are functionally coupled to blood pressure, plasma glucose, body composition, feeding, and anxiety-like behaviors. For more information, please see our laboratory’s website: https://krause-dekloetmed.pharmacy.ufl.edu/
Associate Directors
Steven M Smith PharmD, MPH, FCCP, FAHA
Assistant Professor, Associate Director Of CICMD
Michelle L Gumz Ph.D.
Associate Professor