The Lawrence laboratory studies the role of proteases and their inhibitors in health and disease. Primary areas of interest focus on the vascular biology of the CNS, and disorders such as stroke; and on the development of peripheral vascular disease. Studies range from very basic questions such as how binary protein: protein interactions regulate physiologic processes to complex animal models of disease. We use combinations of biochemical, molecular, and genetic approaches to study how specific molecular interactions regulate function, and then apply this information to in vivo models of disease to test the importance of these interactions in complex physiologic processes.