Heart failure has become a major health problem in the United States reaching epidemic proportions. Dr. Sen s laboratory seeks to identify the molecular players involved in the initiation and progression of heart failure and seeks to develop strategies to reverse the transition from hypertrophy to heart failure. Dr. Bond s laboratory investigates the signaling pathways and mechanisms associated with the simulation major receptor systems involved not only in the normal physiologic response of the heart but also in pathogenic mechanisms of heart failure. Dr. Misono s laboratory is involved in research to characterize atrial natritic factor and its receptor at a structural level. This ligand-receptor system is believed to play a central role in hypertension and the heart failure response.
Thrombosis remains the leading cause of death in the United States.
A better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of thrombosis, hemostasis and fibrinolysis represent a third area of research which are emphasized within several laboratories in the Department of Molecular Cardiology. The laboratories of Drs. Plow and Hoover-Plow are interested in the function of the components of the plasminogen system, the molecular pathway which is responsible for the dissolution of blood clots and a system which also influences the migration of cells. Analyses in these laboratories utilize mice in which the genes for various components of the plasminogen system have been inactivated. These mice provide a means to dissect the role of the plasminogen system in physiologic and pathophysiologic events.