Venous diseases mean chronic and progressive vascular changes for reasons that are often unknown. Professor Lauri Eklund’s research group aims to identify physiological mechanisms which control the differentiation of blood vessels into veins, and cellular and molecular defects may underlie vascular abnormalities.Based at Biocenter Oulu and at the Faculty of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Eklund does research on the mechanisms controlling the development of veins using genetically modified mice and endothelial cell cultures to model mutations identified in patients and phenomena related to vein formation.
Although some of the diseases under research are rare, they can help us understand the disease mechanisms and uncover typical control mechanisms related to the growth and functioning of blood vessels. After the defective molecule has been identified, it is possible to develop targeted molecular treatments.
ELIXIR is partly funded by the European Commission