Peter J. Butler

            The research in Dr. Butler’s Cell and Tissue Mechanotransduction Lab focuses on the fundamental molecular mechanisms by which vascular endothelial cells sense the forces from flowing blood and transduce this mechanical information into adjustments of cell and tissue biology. For example, Dr. Butler has found that the frictional force of blood flow, shear stress, results in a dilation of small arterioles and that the magnitude of this dilation depends on the rate of change of the shear stress. It is believed that arterioles use this rate-sensitivity to continually adjust blood flow to organs such as skeletal muscles during exercise. Shear stress is also important in the development of pathologies such as atherosclerosis and hypertension. Depending on spatial and temporal characteristics of the shear stress, endothelial cells adjust the expression of genes to adapt to their flow environment.

A major focus of Dr. Butler’s research is to elucidate the fundamental molecular mechanisms of mechanotransduction. To accomplish this goal, Dr. Butler, along with his students, have designed and built a confocal molecular dynamics microscope (CMDM) which allows nanosecond, and nanometer scale investigations of molecular dynamics in 3-dimensions in intact cells. This system uses time-resolved fluorescence microscopy to investigate the fluorescence lifetimes, rotations, diffusions, and transport of molecules at the cell surface, in the membrane, and in the cell cytoplasm.

Dr. Butler also co-Directs the Biomaterials and Bionanotechnology Summer Institute which provides summer research and educational opportunities for undergraduate and first year graduate students.