Mitral valve disease in dogs, tissue engineered solutions to sourcing valve tissue for research.

www.roslin.ed.ac.uk

Chair Veterinary Clinical Audit Committee

After several years in private practice in New York and in London, I joined the R(D)SVS as a small animal clinician in 1986 and since then developed an interest in cardiology and respiratory medicine of dogs and cats, and have been Head of the Cardiopulmonary Service, Head of the Clinical Division and Director of the Hospital for Small Animals. This clinical career was interrupted by a three year Wellcome Leave Fellowship in respiratory physiology. My research interests had been initially in respiratory medicine and physiology, but more latterly has concentrated on mitral valve disease at all levels from clinical features to molecular mechanisms.

My current main research interest is in the molecular mechanisms that control mitral valve disease pathogenensis, using a combination of native valve tissue, valve cell culture systems and tissue engineered platforms. At present we are working on understanding the contibution of TGFβ to this disease and the important down-stream signals.