Affiliation: Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center, Section of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine

Dr. Vitiello is a molecular toxicologist with a research goal to understand redox-dependent regulation of molecular networks influencing cellular programming during tissue development and injury/repair processes. He specifically researches if thioredoxin antioxidants serve as molecular sensors of altered atmospheric oxygen tension in lung epithelial and retinal vascular cells during bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) respectively. BPD and ROP are both oxidative diseases associated with oxygen therapy in preterm infants. Dr. Vitiello also investigates how mitochondrial antioxidants regulate redox signaling and mitochondrial function during pathogenesis of Friedreich’s Ataxia, a degenerative neuromuscular disease primarily diagnosed during adolescence. Using a variety of genetic, molecular, proteomic, and cellular approaches, the Vitiello laboratory hopes to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies to predict, ameliorate, and prevent the life-long burden of neonatal & pediatric oxidative diseases.