Don Dengel, PhD, professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Laboratory of Integrative Human Physiology (LIHP), is a co-author of an article recently published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. The article, entitled, “Relationship of endothelial microparticles to obesity and cardiovascular disease risk in children and adolescents,” explored the possibility of using circulating endothelial microparticles in the blood as a biomarker for cardiovascular risk in adolescents. The authors reported associations between circulating endothelial microparticles and traditional cardiovascular risk factors (i.e., blood pressure, oxidized low-density lipoproteins., etc.). This data suggests a potential role for circulating endothelial microparticles being used as a biomarker of cardiovascular disease risk in children and adolescents. Further studies are needed to examine the potential of these microparticles as a biomarker for disease.