Welcome!

We are a translational lab with a mission of developing improved treatments for heritable heart muscle disorders (cardiomyopathies). Most cardiomyopathies are now known to be caused by genetic variants. These genetic variants alter structure/function of heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes), leading to gradual accumulation of injury to the heart muscle over a lifetime. Some individuals with these conditions may be affected early in life and develop major limitations, while others may be more mildly affected. We use a range of genetic tools, cell-based methods, gene therapy approaches, and mouse models to identify the upstream mechanisms of these disorders and develop strategies to more effectively treat them. One major approach we use is cardiomyocytes differentiated from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC-CMs), which offer major advantages for studying early effects of genetic variants that cause cardiomyopathy. We also have developed novel mouse models and developed functional genomics approaches to study these disorders.  Another major focus of the lab is the development of improved techniques for studying cardiomyocyte structure/function using iPSC-CMs while also developing a better understanding of the developmental biology of iPSC-CMs.