Medical Student Research Fellowship for Summer 2005

Mentor: Joseph Hill, MD, PhD
Department: Internal Medicine
Room number: NB11.200
Mail Code: 8573
Phone number: 8.1400
E-mail: joseph.hill@UTSouthwestern.edu
Project title: Functional Genomics of Cardiac Hypertrophy and Failure

Human subjects IRB approved project number (where applicable):

Animal subjects IRB approved project number (where applicable):

Project Type (patient-based research, animal-based research, or basic research; this characterization is only to permit a general classification for grouping similar types of projects)
basic research

Brief Description of Project:

Our laboratory is interested in molecular signaling processes in cardiac hypertrophy and failure. Using molecular, physiological, and electrophysiological approaches, we study mechanisms of structural, functional, and electrical remodeling in heart disease. These studies are based on genetic and surgical models of heart disease in animals, as well as patients with hypertrophic heart disease and cardiomyopathy.
Specific questions we are studying at present include:
" mechanisms governing the pathological growth response of the myocardium
" autophagy as a novel mechanism of remodeling that contributes to the transition from stable hypertrophy to heart failure
" mechanisms of Ca2+ metabolism in hypertrophied and failing ventricular myocytes with particular emphasis on transcriptional and post-translational regulation of the L-type Ca2+ channel
" phosphoinositide-dependent signaling pathways (and downstream targets) in cardiac hypertrophy and failure
" regulation of circadian gene expression by environmental stimuli

Previous Research Activities or Publications with Medical Students:

I have worked with numerous medical students, medical residents, and Cardiology fellows. One Doris Duke fellow elected to transfer to the MSTP to complete a PhD in the lab. I have a particular desire to mentor physicians with an interest in basic investigation, and it would be my pleasure to do so again this summer.

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