Office Address

5263 Scott Hall

Position Title

Associate Professor

Areas of Interest

Neurohumoral control of the circulation, cardiovascular deconditioning, exercise training

Narrative Bio

The goal of the research in my laboratory is to learn more about how the brain controls the diameter of blood vessels in the peripheral circulation, which directly influence our resting blood pressure. In particular, I am interested in how the brain adapts in its control of the cardiovascular system under various physiological and pathophysiological states. Currently, the laboratory is to examining how sedentary versus physical active conditions change the brain (known as neuroplasticity) and is related to the increased risk of cardiovascular disease in individuals who do not exercise on a regularly basis. Using a variety of techniques, we examine blood pressure regulation at the level of the whole animal down to levels of gene expression in individual cells. More recently we have been focusing on the role of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the context of a sedentary lifestyle and renovascular hypertension. Included in these studies, is the exploration of sex-based differences in blood pressure regulation by the brain since women of reproductive age have a far lower incidence of cardiovascular disease than men. Ultimately our goal is to target neural mechanisms in the brain which contribute to cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Mueller will consider new MS and PhD students in is lab for the 2023-24 academic year.

Publications

A complete list of Dr. Mueller's publications can be found at PubMed-Mueller

Post Graduate Training

• 1995-97 Postdoctoral Fellow, Mentor: Philip S. Clifford, Ph.D.; Department of Anesthesiology, Medical College of Wisconsin
• 1997-01 Postdoctoral Fellow, Mentor: Eileen M. Hasser, Ph.D.; Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences,  Univ. Missouri-Columbia

Education

Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Physiological Science, St. Louis University

B.A in Biology (Chemistry Minor) Blackburn University

Category Information

• Neural control of the circulation - effects of activity and inactivity on neural pathways in the brainstem

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