Alan Lomax
PhD (Melbourne)
Assistant professor, Depts. of Medicine and Physiology
Office Tel: 613 549-6666 ext 6515
email: lomaxa@queensu.ca
The gastrointestinal tract is home to an incredibly diverse population of cell types, including bacteria, endothelial cells, immune cells, myocytes, neurons and glia. This leads to a remarkable number of intercellular interactions which together determine the behavior of the gut and disease symptoms. My lab is interested in how interactions between the immune system and the nervous system can influence the development of gastrointestinal disease. The aim of our present research is to identify new therapeutic targets for treatments of gastrointestinal diseases by understanding how neural regulation of immune system activation and blood flow in the gut is altered in disease states. My lab uses a variety of physiological and molecular biological techniques to examine how inflammation during inflammatory bowel diseases and sepsis alters the neural control of the gut vasculature and how the nervous system contributes to immunomodulation.
