Dr. Metzger is studying the effectiveness of Interleukin 12 to treat streptococcal skin infections. Streptococcal bacteria cause several types of medical problems, including heart inflammation and acute skin infections commonly referred to as flesh-eating bacterial infections.
Pulmonary hypertension is high blood pressure in the lungs.
As the pressure increases, the heart is unable to pump blood against the resistance and the right side of the heart begins to fail. Without treatment, patients with pulmonary hypertension die of progressive heart failure. Little is know about pulmonary hypertension, its causes, the risk factors for its development, or its treatment. However, Dr. Cooper is studying the role of nitric oxide production as a potentially treatable cause. The studies being conducted by Dr. Schlender are attempting to characterize an important enzyme called protein phosphatase, which helps regulates the complex biochemical machinery that controls heart contractions.