Cardiac Systems Biology
Heart function and failure are controlled by complex molecular networks that are just beginning to be mapped. The Cardiac Systems Biology Group combines computational modeling and experiments to discover molecular networks and drugs against heart diseases. We are discovering the molecular networks that control cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and death, extra-cellular matrix remodeling by fibroblasts and macrophages, and cardiomyocyte proliferation.In the News
Come to the free 3rd annual virtual Netflux and Logic-Based Network Modeling Conference, Jan 8 2025!
HTTP://TINYURL.COM/NETFLUX2025
Jeff and Mukti win Best in Show in the UVA Engineering is Beautiful Art Contest for "Inflammation-Fibrosis Coupling"!
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UVA Engineering Researchers Develop AI Tool To Fast-Track New Health Treatments
Read NowUsing a new AI tool, biomedical engineering professor Jeff Saucerman’s team discovered a drug used by millions for anxiety and depression also has surprising heart-healing potential.
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Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. Student Studied Body’s Response to Space Travel as NASA Intern
Read NowJeff Saucerman advisee Malcolm O’Malley helped NASA researchers make sense of life sciences data to mitigate impacts of space travel on our immune systems.
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Biomedical Engineering Professor Receives $3.1M NIH Grant to Improve Heart Attack Outcomes
Read NowJeff Saucerman will collaborate with researchers at the School of Medicine to study the role of lipoprotein receptors in heart failure.
Fall 2024 News
Congratulations to Alex Clark on the award of his Coulter Postdoctoral Scholars Grant!
Congratulations to Lionel Watkins on the award of an NIH Diversity Supplement! This will support his research on integrating mouse and human biobanks to discover novel regulators of cardiac hypertrophy.
Welcome to new PhD student Sophia Kerns! She was awarded a UVA Distinguished Fellowship and is pursuing cardiac systems immunology.
Drs. Abbate, Saucerman, and Toldo were awarded a $3.1M NIH R01 grant, "Modeling of cell-specific LRP1 signaling in acute myocardial infarction". Motivated by Dr. Abbate's clinical studies with LRP1 agonists, we are combining computational models (Saucerman) and genetically engineered mice (Toldo) for cell- and time-specific cardioprotective. Article:
Great public interest in Laura's paper in iScience 2024, where we discover how small molecules induce cardiomyocyte proliferation
UVA Today: https://news.virginia.edu/content/how-do-you-mend-damaged-heart-uva-researchers-have-solid-leads
WVTF Public Radio interview: https://www.wvtf.org/news/2024-08-29/uva-scientists-use-ai-to-search-for-drugs-that-could-help-repair-damaged-hearts
29 News: https://www.29news.com/2024/08/14/uva-cardio-researchers-seek-reverse-heart-attack-damage/