Welcome to the Morrell Lab

Research in our lab is focused on the complex interface between platelets, the vasculature, and immune cells. Platelets are not only the cellular mediators of thrombosis, but also have important roles in inflammatory and immune cell responses. Ongoing and past studies by our group have examined platelet, and platelet derived inflammatory mediator interactions with both vascular and immune cells, and the impact of these interactions on tissue injury responses in disease relevant contexts. These studies demonstrated that platelets are regulators of all aspects of inflammatory responses, including the induction of acute phase responses, innate immune cell activation and trafficking, T helper cell differentiation, and B cell development. Our lab regularly uses advanced mouse models to dissect molecular interactions and vascular inflammatory signaling pathways both in vitro and in vivo, establishing our lab as leaders in understanding how platelets regulate vascular and immune cell homeostatic and inflammatory responses. Our work continues to define many novel implications for platelet immune regulation in vascular and inflammatory disease processes.

Mentoring and Teaching

I am actively involved in research training at URMC. Over the course of my research career I have mentored 7 undergraduates (3 women, 1 underrepresented minority), 8 doctoral students (7 women, 4 underrepresented minorities), 2 masters students (both underrepresented minority females), and 6 postdoctoral fellows (4 female, 1 underrepresented minority). Presently, I mentor 3 doctoral students and 1 post-doctoral fellow. I have sat, or currently sit, on the thesis committees of 14 graduate students. In addition, I am a member of the MSTP (MD/PhD) admissions committee at URMC.