Category: Site SCVRB

Jeremy F Reiter, M.D., Ph.D.

Research Interests:
Signaling, primary cilium, stem cell, Hedgehog, Wnt

Summary:
In the process of development, a single egg cell develops into a complex organism. Understanding how that first cell generates such astonishing complexity is one of biology’s great tasks. Not only is this task fundamental to our understanding of ourselves, but it is also critical to understanding the causes of birth defects and other diseases. Many of the mechanisms underlying development depend on intercellular communication, the ability of cells to send and receive information. Secreted signaling proteins can communicate many different types of information, from what type of cell a cell should become to whether a cell should live or die. We are studying the mechanisms by which a cellular organelle, the primary cilium, receives and interprets these signals during development. We are also studying how mistakes in these signals contribute to diseases such as cancer.

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Jeffrey E Olgin, M.D.

Research Interests:
Cardiac Electrophysiology, Arrhythmias, Mechanisms, Remodeling, Cardiac Fibrosis, Atrial Fibrillation, Cardiac Ablation, Mouse models, animal models, mouse electrophysiology, optical mapping, atrial fibrillation ablation, clinical trials.

Summary:

Mechanisms of arrhythmias, remodeling and cardiac fibrosis, atrial fibrillation, ventricular fibrillation, sudden death, prediction of atrial fibrillation, prediction of sudden death.
Dr. Olgin’s basic research lab is interested in atrial and ventricular remodeling and how these processes occur to develop a substrate for atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. His work has demonstrated the circuit for human atrial flutter and has demonstrated the importance of atrial fibrosis as a cause for atrial fibrillation. He is currently interested in how TGFß signaling is regulated in the atria to produce atrial fibrosis and atrial fibrillation. His lab is translational in that he utilizes a spectrum of techniques and studies that span from mouse, large animal physiologic models, human tissue, human biomarkers and genetic approaches to understanding the disease. He also has active studies in understanding the remodeling that occurs in the ventricle in the setting of heart failure and myocardial infarction to create the substrate for sudden death and ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation.
Dr. Olgin also runs the UCSF Cardiology Clinical Coordinating Center. He is PI of the VEST study, a multi-center, international randomized study to determine whether a wearable defibrillator vest can reduce the big early sudden death rate post-MI.

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Daniel L Minor, Ph.D.

Research Interests:
Membrane proteins; potassium channels, calcium channels

Summary:
Hearts, brains, muscles, and senses require electrical signals to function. We aim to understand the basic cellular components responsible for generating electrical activity. We focus on understanding the structure, function, and regulation of ion channels from a high-resolution viewpoint, understanding how channel mutations cause disease, and on developing new tools for controlling channel function.

Video A Universal CaM Switch Changes the Kv7 Channel

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Takashi Mikawa, M.S., Ph.D.

Research Interests:
Morphogenesis, development, body axis, patterning, cell-to-cell communication, cell architecture, cell fate diversification, cardiovascular system, cardiac conduction system, central nervous system, haemodynamics, growth factor signaling.

Summary:
The establishment of extremely complicated structures and functions of our organ systems depends upon orchestrated differentiation and integration of multiple cell types. Our group focuses to explore a common developmental plan for successful organogenesis, by investigating the mechanisms involved in the differentiation and patterning of the cardiovascular and central nervous systems.

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Dengke Ma, Ph.D.

Research Interests:

Genetic approaches to understanding physiology and diseases, oxygen-modulated metabolism and behavior; brain-heart-lung interaction and interoception; ischemic disease and tolerance; novel genes and pathways evolutionarily conserved in C. elegans and humans.

Summary:
As humans, we drink when thirsty, eat when hungry, and increase our breathing and heart rates when short of oxygen. How do we (our bodies) know when and how to respond to changes in internal bodily states (e.g. loss of nutrient or oxygen)? Genes and traits that facilitate such underlying mechanisms confer great advantages for animal survival and are strongly selected for during evolution. Using both C. elegans and tractable mammalian model systems, we seek to understand the molecular, cellular and neural circuit basis of how animals sense and respond to changes in internal metabolic and energetic states to elicit behavior and maintain homeostasis. Dysfunction of these fundamental physiological processes leads to many disorders, including obesity, diabetes, neurological and cardiovascular diseases.

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Pui-Yan Kwok, M.D., Ph.D.

Research Interests:
Genetic analysis of complex traits, DNA technology development

Summary:
We are developing efficient methods to analyze single DNA molecules and applying molecular genetic tools to identify genetic factors associated with complex human traits such as longevity, sudden cardiac arrest, stroke, psoriasis, lupus, and kidney transplantation outcome. We are also conducting studies to identify genetic factors associated with drug response. The overall goal of our research is to develop the tools for genetic analysis of whole genomes and apply these tools to elucidate the genetic factors associated with common human diseases and phenotypes. The sequencing of the human genome and the mapping of common genetic variation by the International HapMap Consortium, in which our lab participated, have inspired an explosion of new technologies, accelerating identification of genetic susceptibility loci. Our phenotypes of interest include kidney transplantation outcomes, longevity, pharmacogenetics of membrane transporters, sudden cardiac death, psoriasis, skin cancer and brian vascular malformations and hemorrhage.

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Thomas B Kornberg, B.A., Ph.D.

Research Interests:
Developmental regulation

Summary:
My laboratory investigates the mechanisms that pattern developing organs. We carry out our studies on the fruit fly, as it offers many advantages with its ready accessibility to histological analysis and the ease with which genetic manipulations can be made. We focus on two systems the fly wing and the fly lung. Both are model systems that offer opportunities to identify and characterize basic genetic and molecular mechanisms that are relevant to human development and disease.

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John P Kane, M.S., M.D., Ph.D.

Research Interests:
Structure and function of lipoproteins; genetic determinants of arteriosclerosis

Summary:
The Kane laboratory focuses on the discovery of the native structures of lipoproteins ( proteins that carry cholesterol so that we can better understand how they are involved in the development of heart disease and stroke. We are also active in the discovery of alterations in genes that lead to heart disease and stroke.

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Natalia Z Jura, PhD

Research Interests:
Receptor tyrosine kinases, kinase regulatory mechanisms, membrane proteins, feedback regulation of cell signaling

Summary:
We study basic mechanisms of cellular signaling by Receptor Tyrosine Kinases with a goal to understand how cells receive and process growth signals provided by the neighboring cells and the extracellular milieu. Receptor Tyrosine Kinases are single pass transmembrane receptors that catalyze tyrosine phosphorylation upon activation of their intracellular kinase domains. These receptors are principal regulators of growth and survival signals in cells and therefore frequently become deregulated in human diseases. We are interested in understanding how the kinase activity of these receptors is regulated by ligand binding and how the receptors associate with their regulatory components during the activation process. By combining biochemistry and cell biology we are studying these processes in the reconstituted membrane systems in vitro and in the plasma membrane of the living cells. We also use crystallography to gain an atomic resolution insight into Receptor Tyrosine Kinase regulation that will help us design new approaches for therapeutic intervention.

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Jura Lab Website

Guo Huang, Ph.D.

Research Interests:
Comparative study of heart development and regeneration, ischemic heart diseases, stem cell, cardiomyocyte proliferation, regenerative biology

Summary:
The ability to regenerate damaged or lost tissues varies dramatically across organisms and developmental stages. For example, heart regeneration is robust in adult zebrafish and newborn mouse while very limited in adult mouse and human. This presents a particular problem for patients with a heart attack who suffer from a significant loss of heart muscle cells and subsequent life-threatening functional deterioration of the heart.

By taking a comparative approach to study regenerative versus non-regenerative heart repair processes in zebrafish and mouse, we seek to uncover ancestrally conserved injury responses and more importantly, to identify the signals blocking regeneration in the mammalian heart and consequently new treatment strategies for heart diseases.

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Akiko Hata, Ph.D.

Research Interests:
Mechanisms of growth factor signaling in the control of cell growth and differentiation of vascular cells

Summary:
Research in the Hata lab focuses on the role of the BMP/TGF signaling pathway in the maintenance of vascular homeostasis, control of vascular injury repair, and pathogenesis of vascular diseases, including idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH), hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT), restenosis, and atherosclerosis. Our approach is to study gene mutations identified among patients with IPAH or HHT and elucidate how these gene products affect the signaling pathway as well as vascular physiology using both cell culture and animal models.

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Michael D Grabe, Ph.D.

Research Interests:
Membrane channels and transporters, molecular simulation, continuum electrostatics and elasticity theory

Summary:
Our lab uses computational methods to understand biological phenomena. We are primarily interested in the mechanical operation of ion channels and transporters, which move ions and small molecules across membranes. Additionally, we use theoretical approaches to explore how these membrane proteins work together to regulate ion homeostasis in organelles such as the lysosome and Golgi. Lastly, we are developing methodologies for predicting the stability of membrane proteins to understand how mutations give rise to a loss of function, improper trafficking or degradation.

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