The American Physiological Society (APS) has awarded T. Dylan Olver, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the College of Veterinary Medicine Department of Biomedical Sciences, with a Novel Disease Model Award. The award was given to recognize Olver’s research into the causes of vascular dementia caused by heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, which involves the left ventricle of the heart failing to fully relax after contracting.
Olver earned his doctoral degree in integrative physiology at the University of Western Ontario. His dissertation studies focused on how blood flow is controlled in peripheral nervous tissue and how microvascular function affects overall neural health in a diabetic setting with and without an exercise treatment intervention. Since coming to Mizzou 2 ½ years ago he has been mentored in the labs of Associate Professor Craig Emter, PhD, and Professor M. Harold Laughlin, PhD, in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, where he has studied the relationship between blood flow control in the brain and cognitive function.
In the study recognized by the APS, Olver developed an innovative pig model that shows promise in taking clinical observations about short-term memory impairment, brain atrophy and decreased brain mass and determining underlying causes for those conditions related to compromised blood blow from heart failure.