Integrative Cardiovascular Laboratories

Consortium Meets the Pacific

In April, members of the consortium converged in San Francisco for the EB2006 meeting. Mary McCarty (upper left panel), from Tulane, delivered a series of trauma studies which were highlighted by the APS, Forbes and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services News . During that trip, the consortium made a brief stop, to survey the Pacific along Highway 1 (upper right), on their way to visit with valued collaborator Dr. Henk Vreman at Stanford University(lower panel, l-r, H Vreman, R Johnson, F Johnson, M McCarty, W Durante)

Back in the Saddles

Since the laboratory facilities at Tulane remain unusable (left), Drs. Robert and Fruzsina Johnson have returned to Houston to resume research activities at Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and to teach medical physiology to the Tulane medical students at Baylor (Fruzsina, center). Meanwhile, Dr. William Durante (right panel, foreground) and his postdoctoral fellow Dr. Xiaoming Liu (right panel "back row") show that things are now up and running at their new digs with the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Visiting Katrina’s Aftermath

On February 1st, Drs. Robert and Fruzsina Johnson visited Tulane’s Health Science Center in New Orleans. They were able to access one of the entombed labs (left panel) to rescue valuable equipment. In the accessible laboratory, which sustained water damage, Bob evaluated the integrity of the electronics (center) and Fruzsi (right panel) worked to clear five months worth of general putrefaction and to document other losses (live images below). Approximately 15% of the building is open, water is intermittent and building heating is non-functional. Open sections are still less than optimal for scientific studies and the remaining affected areas of the school of medicine will be unusable for an indefinite period. Accordingly, the Tulane divisions of the Consortium have returned to Houston to continue their studies at the DeBakey VA Medical Center satellite lab until the New Orleans facilities are usable. (Feb 4, 2006)

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes...

Bill Durante (left panel) supervises the packing of his laboratories as they load (right panel) for their relocation from Baylor Medicine to the Dept of Medical Pharmacology and Physiology at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Over a year in the making, Durante's move will provide him with new opportunities and constitute a major enhancement of the existing program at the University of Missouri. Despite his relocation, Dr. Durante will continue to play a primary role in the consortium. We wish him God's speed in the transition. (-R. Johnson, Jan 1, 2006)

Darker Side of Research

At Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center Research Services in Houston, Dr. Fruzsina Johnson prepares a microvessel in a darkened room (left). After the vessel is mounted in the chamber, filtered lighting is used to introduce light sensitive compounds into the isolated arteriole in the chamber, which is then pressurized and imaged using a microscope (right). (technique outlined at this link) (Dec 20, 2005)

Fanfare for the Common Amino Acid

Robert Johnson (left) and Fruzsina Johnson (right) attentively listen as William Durante (center) shares his passion for amino acids, with bravato, during a lab meeting meeting of the consortium in Houston. (Nov 15, 2005)

Carbon Monoxide Analysis Now in Texas!

Sankar Kannan concentrates on measuring carbon monoxide with gas chromatography at Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center Research Services in Houston. Thanks to the heroic actions of L. Gabriel Navar, the consortium's carbon monoxide analyzer was rescued from the Tulane Health Sciences Center in New Orleans and safely reestablished in Texas. (Nov 1, 2005)

Microcirculatory Studies Roaring in Houston

William "The Dom" Durante (up. right) intensely observes Fruzsina Johnson (low. left) as she isolates microvessels at Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center Research Services, in Houston Texas. (Oct 1, 2005)