Cardiovascular Disease
Research at LIMR in cardiovascular disease leverages the excellence the Main Line Health Heart Center in cardiology. Cardiovascular disease ranks as the second most prominent killer in the U.S. after cancer. Laboratories at LIMR benefit from close interactions with cardiologists at the Lankenau and Bryn Mawr Hospitals and with the Main Line Health Heart Center. One of the research programs conducted by the Heart Center focuses on cardiac arrhythmia under the direction of Dr. Yan, a national expert with joint appointment at LIMR who studies this clinically important area.
Dr.
Cox studies ion channels that regulate blood pressure
and the electrical signals that drive heart beat.
Blood pressure (hypertension) is handled clinically
by a variety of drugs, but the relatively poor understanding
of how the drugs act and the significant side-effects that
can result from their use continue to stimulate research in
this area. The Cox laboratory focuses on studies of ion channels
that are critical for maintaining cardiovascular tone. Their
model systems employ a variety of human and rabbit tissues,
molecular and cellular biological methods, genetic techniques
to clone and express ion channels, and patch-clamp technology
to study ion channel function.
Dr. Ezekowitz is a clinical cardiologist who is exploring better options for anti-coagulation in patients with atrial fibrillation. Blood clots that can form in the hearts of atrial fibrillation patients can cause strokes. Previous research by Dr. Ezekowitz proved that the blood thinning agent warfarin (Coumidin®) can protect such patients from strokes. However, warfarin is difficult to manage clinically and not all patients can tolerate treatment with this drug. In his current work, Dr. Ezekowitz is evaluating an experimental anti-coagulation drug that may provide an important new option for patients that have difficulty with warfarin.
Dr. Knudsen is an expert in muscle cell biology and cell adhesion processes who is currently studying cells that can rebuild heart tissue (cardiac stem cells).
Dr. Knudsen’s work illustrates how fundamental work in biomedical research can lead in unexpected directions with relevance to medicine. Her studies previously contributed to principles in cancer research, but her findings led her toward studies relevant to cardiovascular development and stem cell biology. By elucidating stem cell characters her work may assist new efforts to repair cardiac tissues after myocardial infarction (heart attack) or during heart failure.
Dr. Laury-Kleintop is interested primarily in processes that distinguish stable and unstable athersclerotic plaques. She has focussed on proteins that contribute to plaque formation in human tissues and in rabbit models; she has also examined the effects of statins on this process. Overlapping interests with the Prendergast group have stimulated a close collaboration to study two knockout mouse models that are not only prone to cancer progression, but also to vascular disorders seen in diabetic patients and to a familial type of cardiomyopathy (RhoB and Bin1 knockout mouse models, respectively).
Dr.
Yan studies how ion channel activities produce normal
heart beats and heart arrhythmias.
His laboratory is affiliated with the Main Line Health
Heart Center as well as LIMR. Dr. Yan has outstanding expertise
in studying cardiac physiology gained from the unique capabilities
of his laboratory in combining organ culture and patch-clamp
technology. The unusual prowess of this group garners the
attention of leading pharmaceutical companies as well as academic
investigators.
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