Robert Menzies

Research Fellow

  • Centre for Cardiovascular Science

Contact details

Address

Street

The Queen's Medical Research Institute, 47 Little France Crescent, Edinburgh BioQuarter

City
Edinburgh
Post code
EH16 4TJ

Research summary

Hypertension is a leading cause of cardiovascular mortality globally, yet strategies to lower blood pressure alone have not sufficiently obviated cardiovascular risk. This is partly due to contributions from the growing epidemics of diabetes, obesity, and aging where damage and repair mechanisms become dampened over time. My research is focused on the identification of macrovascular and microvascular damage and repair mechanisms that arise during hypertension and diabetes to perpetuate disease. This basic research utilises multi-disciplinary approaches to develop vital capabilities and technologies including; cell models, ex vivo preparations, gene-targeted models, signal analysis technques, machine-learning analysis pipelines, and in vivo physiological assays.  A key result from this research has been the identification of a major therapeutic candidate, vascular purinergic P2X7 receptors (P2X7R). Antagonism of P2X7R lowers blood pressure and improves target organ perfusion in a hypertensive model. This work has subsequently blossomed into an exciting cross-functional research effort with a team of globally recognised scientists and clinicians pursuing an overarching strategy to bring new and improved treatments to patients.

Research activities

View all 33 activities on Research Explorer

View all 22 publications on Research Explorer

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