Faculty

Ion channel disorders ("Channelopathies")

The primary focus of the James C. Lo Lab is to investigate the molecular mechanisms of cardiometabolic diseases with the ultimate goal of developing novel treatments directed against them.

Using zebrafish as a model, the Cao Lab aims at dissecting how natural heart regeneration is regulated at the cellular and molecular level, and how the generalizable findings can be applied in other regenerative contexts

We utilize novel imaging techniques in zebrafish genetic models to dissect the cues driving vascularization and vascular mediation of heart regeneration at the tissue and molecular level.

Understanding the unique workings of heart muscle cells - cardiomyocytes - and discovering ways to make cardiomyocytes replicate and proliferate, so as to enable the heart to heal itself in cases of heart failure or congenital defects.

The Long lab studies the crosstalk between RNA and chromatin, with a focus in stem cell differentiation and cardiac development. This includes understanding the molecular mechanism of RNA-mediated regulation pathways by Polycomb group (PcG) and Trithorax group (TrxG) proteins, RNA-mediated epigenetic regulation of cardiac development, and how epitranscriptomics and epigenetics interconnect.