The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation has named Brian Coon, Ph.D., as an assistant professor in the Cardiovascular Biology Research Program. He joins OMRF from Yale University, where he completed a postdoctoral fellowship.
Coon studies the special cells that line blood vessels, called endothelial cells, and how they respond to forces like high blood pressure. The cells play a key role in how blood vessels expand and contract, grow, clot and clear. Understanding how their function changes based on types of blood flow could be key to developing new treatments for conditions such as cholesterol accumulation and vessel blockage, abnormal blood vessel growth, and dementia.
“Dr. Coon is an expert on the most important cell type in the cardiovascular system,” said Lijun Xia, M.D., Ph.D., who heads the foundation’s Cardiovascular Biology Research Program and holds the Merrick Foundation Chair in Biomedical Research. “His focus on blood flow complements our current research and adds a new angle to our department’s long-term collaborations.”
Coon received a bachelor’s degree from Northern Illinois University and a doctorate in cell, molecular and developmental biology from Purdue University.
