Health Sciences

Dr. April Carpenter 
Dr. April Carpenter 

April Carpenter

Dr. April Carpenter is an integral member of the Health and Exercise Physiology Department where she is responsible for teaching Anatomy and Physiology as well as other Health and Exercise Physiology related courses. She holds a B.S. in Applied Science from Centenary College of Louisiana and advanced degrees in Molecular and Cellular Physiology from Louisiana State University. Her research interests include the molecular regulation of endothelial function and its impact on all phases of skeletal muscle injury.  Dr. Carpenter completed two postdoctoral fellowships – one at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and a second one at the Hospital for Special Surgery/ Weil Medical College of Cornell University. Dr. Carpenter has previously taught courses on Anatomy and Physiology, Human Biology, Medical Physiology, as well as various Environmental Conservation classes.

Department

Health and Exercise Physiology

Degrees

  • B.S., Centenary College
  • Ph.D., Louisiana State University 

 

Teaching

  • Human Anatomy & Physiology 
  • Human Anatomy & Physiology Lab
  • Human Pathophysiology
  • Common Intellectual Experience

Research Interests

Lab Description

Skeletal muscle injury is extremely common and few therapies exist to improve or speed repair.  The SkM lab studies inflammatory cell regulation of regeneration following skeletal muscle injury in mice.  We are particularly interested in understanding how wnt ligands produced by macrophages influence endothelial integrity and expansion.

Recent Work

Selected Publications

  1. Tusavitz S, Keoonela S, Kalkstein M, McCormick S, Gasser B, Arrigale M, Rafferty P, Carpenter AC. Macrophage-derived Wnt signaling increases endothelial permeability during skeletal muscle injury. Inflamm Res. 2020 Dec;69(12):1235-1244. doi: 10.1007/s00011-020-01397-z. Epub 2020 Sep 9. PMID: 32909096.
  2. Carpenter AC, Smith AN, Wagner H, Cohen-Tayar Y, Rao S, Wallace V, Ashery-Padan R, Lang RA.  Wnt ligands from the surface ectoderm regulate “bimetallic strip” optic cup morphogenesis in mouse.  Development. 2015 Mar1; 142(5): 972-80.
  3. Zhong Z, Zylstra-Diegel CR, Schumacher CA, Baker JJ, Carpenter AC, Rao S, Yao W, Guan M, Helms JA, Lane NE, Lang RA, Williams BO.  Wntless functions in mature osteoblasts to regulate bone mass. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2012 Aug 14;109(33):E2197-204.
  4. Stefater JA 3rd, Lewkowich I, Rao S, Mariggi G, Carpenter AC, Burr AR, Fan J, Ajima R, Molkentin JD, Williams BO, Willis-Karp M, Pollard JW, Yamaguchi T, Ferrara N, Gerhardt H, Lang RA.  Regulation of angiogenesis by a non-canonical Wnt-Flt1 pathway in myeloid cells.  Nature. 2011 May 29;474(7352):511-5.
  5. Carpenter AC, Rao S, Wells JM, Campbell K, Lang RA.  Generation of mice with a conditional null allele for Wntless.  Genesis.  2010 Sep. 48(9):554-8.
  6. Tzeng TC, Chyou S, Tian S, Webster B, Carpenter AC, Guaiquil VH, Lu TT.  CD11c(hi) dendritic cells regulate the re-establishment of vascular quiescence and stabilization after immune stimulation of lymph nodes. J Immunol. 2010 Apr 15;184(8):4247-57.
  7. Chyou S, Eckland EH, Carpenter AC, Tzeng T, Tian S, Michaud M, Madri JA, Lu TT.  Fibroblast-type reticular stromal cells regulate the lymph node vasculature.  J Immunol.  2008 Sep. 15;181(6):3887-96.
  8. Carpenter AC and Alexander JS.  Endothelial PKCd activation attenuates neutrophil transendothelial migration.  Inflamm Res. 2008 May;57(5):216-29.