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Thrombosis Research Section FacultyFaculty (Secondary Appointment)ANDREW I. SCHAFER, M.D.
Dr. Schafer is the Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and is Professor of Hematology-Oncology and Thrombosis Research. Research Interests:Dr. Schafer's area of research is platelet and vascular cell biology. In recent years his laboratory has focused on several related areas. He and his collaborators have investigated the molecular mechanisms of platelet and vascular endothelial and smooth muscle responses to hemodynamic forces, including shear stress and cyclic stretch. Dr. Schafer's group has identified carbon monoxide, a byproduct of the action of heme oxygenase on heme, as a novel, endogenous vascular cell-derived mediator of platelet function and vessel wall tone. They have further demonstrated the important role of heme oxygenase in vascular remodeling and response to injury. Dr. Schafer and his collaborators have also investigated the vascular smooth muscle cell gene regulation of cationic amino acid transport, L-arginine and L-ornithine metabolism, nitric oxide and polyamine synthesis in response to growth factors, cytokines and hemodynamic forces.
Selected Publications: 1. Durante W, Liao L, Reyna S, Peyton KJ, Schafer AI. Physiological cyclic stretch directs L-arginine transport and metabolism to collagen synthesis in vascular smooth muscle cells. FASEB J 2000; 14:1775-1783. 2. Chapman GB, Durante W, Peyton KJ, Evans AJ, Schafer AI. Physiological cyclic stretch causes cell cycle arrest in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells. Am J Physiol 2000; 278:H748-754. 3. Tulis DA, Durante W, Peyton KJ, Evans AJ, Schafer AI. Heme oxygenase-1 attenuates vascular remodeling following balloon injury in rat carotid arteries. Atherosclerosis. In Press. 4. Schafer AI. Venous thrombosis as a chronic disease. N Engl J Med 1999; 340:955-956. 5. Wagner CT, Durante W, Christodoulides N, Hellums JD, Schafer AI. Hemodynamic forces induce the expression of heme oxygenase in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells. J Clin Invest 1997; 100:589-596. 6. Schafer AI. Vascular endothelium: in defense of blood fluidity (ed). J Clin Invest 1997; 99:1143-1144. 
 
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Baylor College of Medicine
Email: karam@bcm.tmc.edu |
