Our lab has several major foci:
1. Using iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes to develop a better understanding of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and congenital heart disease.
2. The role of alterations in mitochondrial structure and function in normal physiology and in diseases such as dilated and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
3. Single cell analysis of mitochondrial function reveals significant heterogeneity.
Specific projects underway in our lab include:
1. Using CRISPR-edited iPSC-cardiomyocytes to understand the mechanisms of cardiomyopathies and to solve the genotype-phenotype conundrum in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
2. The role of altered metabolism and mitochondrial function in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
3. Alterations of mitochondrial structure and function, including processes of mitofusion, mitofission, autophagy and mitophagy, in normal physiology and disease.
4. Development of high-throughput single cell imaging technologies to measure single cell mitochondrial function, and to measure single mitochondrial function to determine the role of heterogeneity in cell life-death decision-making.
5. Development of micro-engineered platforms for assessment of biomechanics of single iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes.
We also are interested in clinical heart failure and cardiac transplantation in children, specifically:
1. Understanding alterations in immune system function in patients with after implantation of a left ventricular assist device, Immune system biomarkers that predict adverse outcomes after pediatric VAD implantation.
2. Understanding alterations in immune system function in children with heart failure before and after heart transplant.
3. Development of biomarkers for the detection and monitoring of post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder in pediatric solid organ transplant patients.