Amanda Jo LeBlanc, Ph.D. joined the Cardiovascular Innovation Institute in January of 2012 and serves as an assistant professor in the Department of Physiology at the University of Louisville. Dr. LeBlanc has an extensive research background in cardiovascular physiology, focusing almost exclusively on myocardial perfusion and function in models of both aging and gender-specific cardiology. Dr. LeBlanc鈥檚 research focus is on myocardial and microvascular regenerative medicine in a model of advanced age, sex-specific coronary physiology, regulation of blood flow, cell-based delivery and therapeutics, adipose-derived cells and microvessels, fabrication of tissue-engineered patches, and neovessel formation, inosculation, and network maturation.

Before coming to CII for additional postdoctoral training, Dr. LeBlanc completed her primary postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Cardiovascular and Respiratory Research at West Virginia University, where she had previously earned her Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology in 2008. She received her B.S. in Exercise Science from Indiana University in 2002 and her M.S. in Exercise Physiology from the University of Louisville in 2004.

The current projects in the LeBlanc laboratory: 1) reversing age-related coronary microvascular dysfunction through the use of an adipose-derived cell therapy, 2) determining how thrombospondin-1 signaling and reactive oxygen species generation contributes to the age-related decline in coronary flow reserve, and 3) identify circulating biomarkers and aberrant microvascular signaling processes related to patients with microvascular angina.