My laboratory's long term research goals are to: 1) elucidate molecular and physiological mechanisms of cell death and vascular damage in the heart that contribute to the pathology of ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury, heart failure, stress hyperglycemia, diabetes, and aging, and 2) develop clinical relevant strategies to combat cardiac cell death and vascular damage in the setting of acute I/R, stress hyperglycemia, heart failure, diabetes and aging. The focus is on deciphering and manipulation of the crucial cellular mechanisms underlying death/survival programs of the cardiac cell, in both acute (ischemia/reperfusion) and chronic (heart failure, diabetes) pathologies. The most important pioneering, reproducible, discoveries from our lab are: 1) glycocalyx role in diabetes and hyperglycemia, 2) mitochondria-hexokinase binding role in cardiac infarction and cardioprotection, 3) elucidation of the cardiac mechanism behind the kidney-targeted diabetes-heart failure medicine Empagliflozin.
