Matthew Campbell
My laboratory focuses primarily on the molecular biology and physiology of the vasculature associated with neural tissues. We use genetic and molecular biology based approaches to explore the interplay between neural tissues and the systemic circulation. One major topic of my research is centred on the tight junctions located between microvascular endothelial cells of the blood brain and inner blood retina barriers (BBB/iBRB) and how these barriers function in health and disease. We aim to develop technologies to address an unmet clinical need for a range of neural conditions that currently have limited forms of therapeutic intervention and these include Alzheimer Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), traumatic brain injury (TBI), chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
In addition to translational interests, our lab is also heavily focused on elucidating the under-lying mechanisms of the diseases we are studying and this has led to novel findings associated with the molecular pathology of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and schizophrenia. Identification of novel therapeutic targets has the potential to rapidly translate to new medicines and this is a strong focus of the lab at present.