Medical Student Research Fellowship for Summer 2012

Mentor: Dr. Joseph Hill        
Department:   Internal Medicine / Cardiology
Room number: NB11.200
Mail Code: 8573
Phone number: 214-648-1400       
E-mail: Joseph.Hill@UTSouthwestern.edu
Project title: Mechanisms of Pathological Cardiac Remodeling

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)

Brief Description of Project:

Define Molecular Mechanisms of Pathological Cardiac Remodeling

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
• catabolic, atrophy-inducing pathways
• 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
• stem-cell based cardiac regeneration

Previous Research Activities or Publications with Medical Students:
Numerous students