Functional studies

Our group is focused on molecular and cellular pathophysiology of vascular diseases, which comprise conditions like atherosclerosis, aortic aneurysms, peripheral arterial disease and restenosis after surgical interventions, contributing to the high overall cardiovascular mortality. Our group holds excellent expertise in these vascular disease models applied on small rodents, performed by skilled personnel with continuous implementation and development of the 3R principles in animal research. We also create longitudinal biobanks of technically challenging vascular models profiled with omics technologies, which we make publicly available for reducing the need for animal experiments in our field. Moreover, we are using non-invasive ultrasound both for longitudinal imaging and follow-up of the disease development to reduce the number of animals, as well as to enable the local delivery of test drugs to reduce the drug dosage and side-effects. Over the years, we have been able to introduce refinements and achieve the highest level of competency in working with these models in a responsible and consistent way, in accordance with the Swedish and EU legislation.