Dr. Bradley McConnell 

Professor of Pharmacology
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Nature of Work: A summer research experience in the McConnell laboratory would be working with a team of graduate students and postdoctoral fellow to either (1) characterize A-kinase Anchoring Proteins (AKAP) “signalosomes” in β-adrenergic receptor (βAR) mediated signaling, (2) define βAR-mediated “biased” signaling, or (3) investigate reprogrammed cardiac conducting cells for cardiac repair. By addressing clinically significant basic science questions, our overall objective in the McConnell Laboratory is to better understand cardiac signaling mechanisms and towards developing therapeutics for heart repair.

Dr. Renita Horton

Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
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Nature of Work: A summer research experience in the Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering Laboratory (CTEL) would focus on designing and building organs-on-chip microdevices and imaging engineered tissues for cardiovascular disease studies. Students will also gain exposure to 3D printing and cell culture techniques for tissue engineering applications.

Dr. Krishna Boini 

Assistant Professor of Pharmacology
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Nature of Work: A summer research experience in the Boini laboratory would focus on studying obesity-induced Nlrp3 inflammasomes. Inflammasome activation is proposed as a key mechanism responsible for obesity-induced glomerular injury via its inflammatory and non-inflammatory actions. Thus, we will test whether obesity-induced Nlrp3 inflammasome activation contributes to glomerular injury. The findings from our studies will identify new mechanistic insights for targeting inflammasomes to develop novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) in obese patients.

Dr. Yang Zhang, 

Associate Professor of Pharmacology
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Nature of Work: A summer research experience in the Zhang laboratory will study how an epigenetic enzyme that usually modifies the chromosomal DNA contributes to vascular cell dysfunction and thereby provokes vascular injury and artery hardening in the settings of obesity and diabetes. The molecular mechanisms will focus on the role of this enzyme in the regulation of lysosome function, autophagic flux, and exosomal signaling.

Dr. Preethi Gunaratne

Moores Professor of Biology and Biochemistry
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Nature of Work: A summer research experience in the Gunaratne laboratory will have two areas of focus: (1) Precision Oncology Platforms focused on Remote Sensing Precancerous Lesion using Single Cell Sequencing and Discovering Actionable Fusions for developing mRNA Vaccines for Cancer Treatment and Prevention. (2) Discovering New Druggable Targets and Biomarkers for Remote Sensing Brain Changes from Opioid Addiction through the microRNA-Regulated Transcriptomic Changes from Drug Abuse. To achieve these goals, her lab has established a functional genomics platform that combines the latest Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) and bioinformatics tools with high-throughput functional screens to identify critical drivers of biological networks during development and the perturbation of normal networks in complex diseases.

Dr. Yu Liu 

Associate Professor of Biochemistry
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Nature of Work: A summer research experience in the Liu laboratory would focus on embryonic and adult stem cell theories and experimental practices. Currently, the Liu lab is using animal models to address how ectopic expression (transgenic) or deletion (knockout) of miR-322/503 affects normal heart function and the outcome of ischemic heart diseases.

Please note that individual research projects may vary from the descriptions due to availability or other factors.