Walter Lee Murfee, associate professor, and collaborators research image was featured on the February 2020 issue of Microcirculation.

The image is based on the original article titled, Lymphatic‐to‐blood vessel transition in adult microvascular networks: A discovery made possible by a top‐down approach to biomimetic model development.

Emerging areas of vascular biology focus on lymphatic/blood vessel mispatterning and the regulation of endothelial cell identity. However, a fundamental question remains unanswered: Can lymphatic vessels become blood vessels in adult tissues? Leveraging a novel tissue culture model, the objective of this study was to track lymphatic endothelial cell fate over the time course of adult microvascular network remodeling.

The results from the research reveal the ability for lymphatic vessels to transition into blood vessels in adult microvascular networks and discover a new paradigm for investigating lymphatic/blood endothelial cell dynamics during microvascular remodeling.

Collaborators:

• Mohammad S. Azimi, Ph.D., former student in the Microvascular Dynamics Laboratory, University of Florida
• Jessica M. Motherwell, Ph.D., former student in the Microvascular Dynamics Laboratory, University of Florida
• Nicholas A. Hodges, Ph.D., former student in the Microvascular Dynamics Laboratory, University of Florida
• Garret R. Rittenhouse, undergraduate student in the Microvascular Dynamics Laboratory, University of Florida
• Dima Majbour, undergraduate student in the Microvascular Dynamics Laboratory, University of Florida
• Stacey L. Porvasnik, former Lab Manager, Schmidt Lab, University of Florida
• Christine E. Schmidt, Ph.D., Department of Biomedical Engineering Chair, University of Florida