The Hedrick Lab

How does lipid metabolism in macrophages impact the tumor microenvironment to regulate tumor growth?

Here, we study specialized mouse models of lipid metabolism and blood from human cancer patients to understand how lipid pathway changes in myeloid cells alter tumor growth. Methods include working with human clinical sample analysis, tumor mouse models, immunoprofiling, high parameter flow cytometry, CyTOF, bioinformatics, and metabolic studies.

How do monocytes recognize tumor cells that are undergoing metastasis?

Select subsets of monocytes are critical in orchestrating the killing of tumor cells as they are traveling through the vasculature to new seeding sites. Here we seek to understand how these cells selectively identify the metastatic tumor cell. Methods include working with tumor mouse models, immunoprofiling, high parameter flow cytometry, RNa sequencing, intravital live cell imaging.

How do monocytes and macrophage cell subsets influence cardiovascular events that occur in cancer patients?

Some cancer patients receiving therapy develop cardiovascular complications, the understanding of which is the emerging field of cardio-oncology. Here, we will study monocyte subsets and functions in cancer patients who develop cardiovascular complications. Methods include working with human blood samples, immunoprofiling, high parameter flow cytometry, functional assays, and bioinformatics approaches.

How are monocytes changed in atherosclerosis progression?  Are there specific functional markers that can be utilized to prevent disease progression? How do they influence T and B cell adaptive responses?

Monocytes play several key roles in atherosclerosis, but we still don’t mechanistically understand how we can better enhance them or target them to control atherosclerosis progression. Here, we study monocytes in human subjects with low to high cardiovascular disease severity to answer these questions using flow cytometry, single cell RNA sequencing, bioinformatics approaches, genetic mouse models of monocyte subsets, and functional assays.

Are there sex and ethnic differences present in monocyte subsets that change how they function in atherosclerosis?

Females develop less atherosclerosis until menopause. Ethnic differences in atherosclerosis progression have been reported. Here, we study how sex and ethnicity impacts monocyte function in cardiovascular disease. High dimensional immunoprofiling, epidemiology, bioinformatics and functional assays will be utilized to answer these questions.