Joseph A. Hill, MD, PhD

Cardiac Hypertrophy and Failure:
Molecular Mechanisms of Structural, Functional, and Electrophysiological 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