Title: Imaging and experimental studies of diseases of aging and menopause
Intravital multiphoton microscopy enables the visualization of dynamics at the cellular scale and is an ideal tool for studying the interactions of cells in vivo. In combination with innovative mouse models that include disease risk factors and models of menopause transition, we study diseases of aging across multiple organ systems. Such imaging has revealed the importance of maintaining vascular health, even in the smallest blood vessels and the capillary bed in diseases as varied as Alzheimer’s disease and heart failure. Improving blood flow mitigates dysfunction in several unrelated diseases, suggesting that targeting obstructions at the capillary networks is a likely strategy for symptomatic therapy in multiple applications.
Nozomi Nishimura is an Associate Professor in the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Menopause Health Engineering Initiative at Cornell University. She develops optical tools for studying in vivo cell behaviors in disease. To study the actions of cells, her lab develops intravital multiphoton microscopy imaging methods that reveal how cells function, move, and interact within the body. She applies these tools in many systems but has particular interests in studying the effects of microvascular dysfunction in the brain. Her lab studies the role of microvascular occlusions in Alzheimer’s disease and neurodegeneration. These methods wererecently adapted for the beating mouse heart, providing new capabilities to study single- cell function and cardiac microvasculature. She was awarded an NSF CAREER Award, is a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), won the Cook Award for commitment to women’s issues and improving the climate for women at Cornell, and the James M. and Marsha D. McCormick Award for Outstanding Advising of First-Year Engineering Students in Cornell Engineering. She is highly active in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committees at the college and department level. Nishimura is currently the Faculty in Residence at McClintock Hall, a dormitory for first- year students.
The talk will also feature Nate Cira.