The GE Davis laboratory studies the molecular basis for human capillary tube formation and we have established in vitro methods under serum-free defined conditions and in 3D extracellular matrices to investigate this process. We have identified five growth factors (SCF, IL-3, SDF-1α, FGF-2 and insulin) that must be added in combination in order for human blood vessels to assemble into tube networks. We investigate how these growth factors and their respective receptors signal together to stimulate endothelial cells to form lumens/tubes and to sprout which is necessary for them to form branching tube networks. Another key cell type in capillaries are pericytes which recruit to and support endothelial cell-lined tubes through basement membrane matrix formation; processes that we are investigating in detail. Finally, we are studying how capillary communication with tissue parenchymal and supporting cells (such as macrophages) becomes dysfunctional leading to key human diseases.
