Joseph C. Gigliotti

Dr. Gigliotti obtained his B.S. (Biochemistry) and M.S. and Ph.D. (Animal and Nutritional Sciences) from West Virginia University.  As a graduate student, Dr. Gigliotti studied how diet impacts various aspects of health in animal models.  He would then receive postdoctoral training at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.  During the first three-years, Dr. Gigliotti worked as an NIH T32 postdoctoral fellow studying how the immune system contributes to the development and progression of kidney diseases in animal models.  He discovered a described a novel application of diagnostic ultrasound that dampens the immune system and significantly reduces tissue injury in models of kidney disease.  This application has been applied to several different disease models and holds tremendous potential for future clinical application.  After 3 years, he transitioned to another laboratory to study the pathophysiology of hypertension for an additional 2 years and further refined his expertise in ultrasound.  Now, as faculty at LUCOM, his laboratory has 2 primary goals:  1) to understand the immunology and pathophysiology of hypertension and kidney disease in animal models, and 2) to determine how dietary habits common to Western cultures influence health and disease development.