Diabetes is one of the leading causes of heart failure worldwide, yet the mechanisms by which chronic metabolic stress damages the heart remain incompletely understood. A major barrier to progress has been the lack of human experimental models that faithfully replicate the complexity of the diabetic heart.
Our lab has established multicellular cardiac microtissue models derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells, incorporating cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, fibroblasts, and autonomic neurons. These platforms provide functional readouts across contractility, electrophysiology, and molecular biology, enabling detailed interrogation of disease mechanisms in a human system.
This project will use these models to investigate how metabolic stress drives cardiac dysfunction in diabetes, with a focus on identifying cellular and molecular pathways amenable to therapeutic intervention, interrogating the mechanisms underlying established cardioprotective therapies such as SGLT2 inhibitors, and evaluating novel strategies targeting metabolic pathways including NAD+ metabolism.
This project suits students with an interest in stem cell biology, cardiac physiology, metabolic disease, and translational medicine. You will develop skills in iPSC culture, cardiac microtissue engineering, live imaging, electrophysiology, and molecular analysis.
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