Located in the Texas Medical Center in Houston (Texas), the largest medical school in the world, members of the Moruno lab have access to a unique collaborative biomedical research environment, featuring cutting-edge technologies, highly competitive training programs, and an exceptional translational research ecosystem. The Moruno lab is part of the BRAINS Research Laboratory in the department of Neurology at the UTHealth McGovern Medical School. We are motivated to identify factors that promote aging of the brain vasculature, which can contribute to vascular dementia. Studies in the lab include the identification of factors that modulate cellular processes such as autophagy, cell senescence, and ferroptosis. We use cognitive tests in mouse models, cultured primary cells, molecular techniques, and genetic and computational tools.