Catherine J. Baty Research Assistant Professor, CLI Executive Committee

We are committed to pursuing collaborative studies identifying and understanding the causes and mechanisms of developmental and functional pathology in the lymphatic vasculature including lymphedema. We investigate the unique cell biology of lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs).  As part of our work, we have successfully developed dynamic assays of lymphatic endothelial function to quantitatively distinguish changes in endothelial cell motility, cell communication, and tube formation. Given our identification of connexin47 mutations in patients with primary and secondary lymphedema, we have pursued investigations of gap junction function, and recently optimized electroporation of LECs so our functional assays may be performed in LECs expressing connexin mutations of interest. Most recently, we’ve optimized immunofluorescent imaging techniques appropriate to the mouse for both fixed and ex vivo functional lymphatic imaging. We are eager to help other investigators pursue unique aspects of lymphatic biology in their tissues/pathologies of interest.