Teresa A Milner
Weill Medical College of Cornell University, NY·Neuroscience
Women's risk of high blood pressure (hypertension) and heart disease rises at menopause, but the reasons are unclear. Falling estrogen is a suspect.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Physiology
- Topics
menopause
hypertension
accelerated ovarian failure
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Dec 2026
What they work on
- Test whether altered GluA1 signaling in PVN neurons contributes to angiotensin II-induced hypertension in post-AOF mice. GluA1 is part of AMPA glutamate receptors, which relay fast excitatory signals between neurons.
- Test whether hypertension after accelerated ovarian failure is linked to G protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER) signaling in the PVN, and whether activating GPER relieves it, using in vivo gene targeting and neurophysiology.
- Define cellular and molecular changes in the PVN of post-AOF mice that underlie hypertension susceptibility, using high-resolution anatomical methods and single-cell RNA sequencing.
More about the research
Studies in people are complicated by aging, and most animal studies remove the ovaries surgically, which does not mimic natural menopause. A mouse model of accelerated ovarian failure (AOF), triggered by the chemical 4-vinylcyclohexene diepoxide, reproduces both perimenopause and postmenopause stages. This lets researchers isolate the role of ovarian hormones in blood pressure control by the brain.
Why it matters
Many women develop high blood pressure after menopause, yet its brain mechanisms are poorly understood. Identifying how estrogen receptors such as GPER and glutamate receptor changes in a blood pressure control center contribute could support better diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for managing blood pressure during and after menopause.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Kafait U Malik
University of Tennessee Health Science Center, TN·Pharmacology
Determine how the brain's arachidonic acid/ALOX15 pathway in the paraventricular nucleus contributes to angiotensin II-induced hypertension in female and male mice, using adenovirus gene tools and radiotelemetry.
Yumei Feng Earley
University of Rochester, NY·Neuroscience
Test whether (pro)renin receptor (PRR) signaling in tyrosine hydroxylase-positive neurons of the hypothalamus (THPVN neurons) impairs glucose balance, using neuron-specific targeting and wireless blood glucose monitoring in mice.
Glenn M Toney
Texas A&M University-College Station, TX·Neuroscience
Test whether raising the brain's own opioids in the PVH of normal mice reproduces the heightened opioid-induced respiratory depression seen in mice exposed to chronic intermittent hypercapnic hypoxia, a model of sleep apnea.
The school
Weill Medical College of Cornell University: 35 labs on PI Pages, $1.6B a year on research, 59 research doctorates a year.
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