Dr. Lilly’s research focuses on understanding the regulatory pathways that control vascular development and smooth muscle differentiation. Using a 3-D culture system to grow blood vessels in vitro, her lab is investigating how smooth muscle precursors are summoned to the nascent vessel. Recruitment of smooth muscle cells is thought to be dependent upon paracrine signals emanating from the endothelial cell tube; however the mechanisms of these signaling events remain a mystery.

Dr. Lilly is also working to define the transcriptional mechanisms that govern selective gene expression in smooth muscle cells. Using smooth muscle regulatory enhancers as tools, her lab directly tests the response that individual components of signaling pathways have on gene expression.