Research Interests:

Ischemic heart disease remains as the single largest cause of mortality in western countries. A major challenge in the field of molecular cardiology is developing novel therapeutic approaches to prevent injury and to facilitate recovery of cells that are constantly undergoing physiological stress. My long term research interests are to understand the molecular and cellular mechanism for myocardial repair and regeneration during acute myocardial infarction, and to develop cellular or genetic therapeutic approaches for preventing myocardial injury, promoting the regeneration following cardiac muscle damage, and treatment for patients with ischemic heart disease. Specifically, the current projects in my laboratory include the use of adult stem cells, and inducible pluripotent stem cells for myocardial repair on the therapeutic applications of cell-based therapies in cardiovascular diseases. To achieve our goals, we will use multidisciplinary approaches that include biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, and genetic analysis through the modulation of mouse model.