Since starting in 1987, the Vascular Research Centre, now part of the NIHR Exeter CRF, has amassed many techniques to look non-invasively at the circulation in minute detail. These include a variety of tests using laser light that enable us to assess the smallest blood vessels in the body, the capillaries, to evaluate the way that blood flow through them is controlled.
Imaging Facilities
Complementing this, we also have a variety of microscopic techniques that allow us to visualise individual capillaries and then to look in detail at the flow of blood within them.
Sequencing preparation
We also have specialist equipment to investigate the structure and function of the eye, including methods to look at detailed structure of both the retina (back) and cornea (front) of the eye.
Other equipment allows the assessment of the function of the blood vessels in the retina.
This assessment of the small blood vessels is complemented by a variety of techniques, including vascular ultrasound, that also enable us to look at structure and function in the larger blood vessels within the body.
Finger nail fold capillaroscopy
