Patrice Musoke

Hello, I am a 3rd-year Genomic Medicine Major and an Information Science and Technology Minor at Temple University. This summer I was accepted into the Frances Velay Program am working in Dr.Khan's lab over at Lewis Katz School of Medicine in Philly, PA. The Velay program is a research program that seeks to encourage and advance the carreres of young women in science. The goal of the fellowship is to encourage and support women’s leadership in the sciences, by offering female undergraduates the opportunity to develop and direct summer research projects that will prepare them for graduate study and professional careers in scientific fields.  My mentor this Summer is Dr. Mohsin Khan. His lab is located in the  Center for Metabolic Disease in Temple University's Lewis Katz School of Medicine.The main focus of this lab is cardiac regeneration so there are a lot of projects going on but my focus will be the role of UCP2 in chronic kidney disease associated heart failure. UCP2 is a protein found in the mitochondria and its main function is to regulate cellular metabolism and energy production. Cardiac disease are a common complication with chronic kidney disease. We aim to describe the role of cardiac metabolism in chronic kidney disease with heart failure and to outline the role of of uncoupling proteins in cardiac metabolism impairment during chronic kidney disease associated heart failure. By investigating the relationship between UCP2 expression and CVD and CKD, we aim to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms linking the diseases.