The Johns Hopkins Laboratory of Computational Intensive Care Medicine (LCICM) has been established to gain knowledge on the mechanisms of critical illness and injury, with the aim of identifying novel methods to treat patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). Members of the lab apply mathematical and statistical models, artificial intelligence, and domain expertise to unravel patterns in data from sources such as electronic health records, high-frequency physiological recordings, and medical imaging. These patterns are resolved into health signatures that can be leveraged for classification and prediction. The overarching goal is to enhance the precision, efficacy, and outcomes of care delivered to critically ill patients.

The Cardiology Bioengineering Laboratory, located in the Johns Hopkins Hospital, focuses on the applications of advanced imaging techniques for arrhythmia management. The primary limitation of current fluoroscopy-guided techniques for ablation of cardiac arrhythmia is the inability to visualize soft tissues and 3-dimensional anatomic relationships. Implementation of alternative advanced modalities has the potential to improve complex ablation procedures by guiding catheter placement, visualizing abnormal scar tissue, reducing procedural time devoted to mapping, and eliminating patient and operator exposure to radiation. Active projects include • Physiological differences between isolated hearts in ventricular fibrillation and pulseless electrical activity • Successful ablation sites in ischemic ventricular tachycardia in a porcine model and the correlation to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) • MRI-guided radiofrequency ablation of canine atrial fibrillation, and diagnosis and intervention for arrhythmias • Physiological and metabolic effects of interruptions in chest compressions during cardiopulmonary resuscitation Henry Halperin, MD, is co-director of the Johns Hopkins Imaging Institute of Excellence and a professor of medicine, radiology and biomedical engineering. Menekhem M. Zviman, PhD is the laboratory manager.

Research in the Glowatzki Lab focuses on the auditory system, with a particular focus on synaptic transmission in the inner ear. Our lab is using dendritic patch clamp recordings to examine mechanisms of synaptic transmission at this first, critical synapse in the auditory pathway. With this technique, we can diagnose the molecular mechanisms of transmitter release at uniquely high resolution (this is the sole input to each afferent neuron), and relate them directly to the rich knowledge base of auditory signaling by single afferent neurons. We study pre- and post-synaptic mechanisms that determine auditory nerve fiber properties. This approach will help to study general principles of synaptic transmission and specifically to identify the molecular substrates for inherited auditory neuropathies and other cochlear dysfunctions.

The Green Group is the biomaterials and drug delivery laboratory in the Biomedical Engineering Department at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Our broad research interests are in cellular engineering and in nanobiotechnology. We are particularly interested in biomaterials, controlled drug delivery, stem cells, gene therapy, and immunobioengineering. We are working on the chemistry/biology/engineering interface to answer fundamental scientific questions and create innovative technologies and therapeutics that can directly benefit human health.

Dr. Clare Rock is an assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Associate hospital Epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, and Faculty Member at Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality. Her research interest focuses the prevention of pathogen transmission in the hospital environment. This includes novel strategies of improving patient room cleaning and disinfection, including human factors engineering approaches, and conducting robust clinical trials to examine effectiveness of ""no touch"" novel technologies such as UV-C light. She has particular interest in carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae transmission in the hospital environment, including outbreak management, and transmission and epidemiology of Clostridium difficile. Her other area of interest is diagnostic stewardship, and the behavioral, cultural and human factors aspects of implementation of initiatives to enhance appropriate use of diagnostic tests. She leads a national initiative, as part of the High Value Practice Academic Alliance, examining strategies for appropriate testing for Clostridium difficile. This is a wider implementation of work that Dr. Rock conducted with The Johns Hopkins Health System facilities. Dr. Rock has multiple sources of grant funding including from the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and industry. Dr. Rock is Vice Chair of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America Research Network, and serves on the SHEA research committee. Dr. Rock earned her M.B.B.Ch. at the University College Dublin School of Medicine, National University of Ireland, and her MS masters of clinical science of research at the University of Maryland, where she received the MS scholar award for epidemiology.

Work in the Green Lab is centered on the ribosome. The overall fidelity of protein synthesis appears to be limited by the action of the ribosome, which is the two-subunit macromolecular machine responsible for decoding and translating messenger RNAs (mRNAs) into protein in all organisms. Our work is divided into four general project areas. The longest-standing research area concerns the interactions of eubacterial ribosomes and release factors. The goal is to understand the mechanism of action of release factors on the ribosome. A second research area involves biochemical and structure/function studies of the miRNA pathway, particularly the mechanism of action of the Argonaute proteins and their interacting factors. A third area of work in the lab is centered around regulation of eukaryotic translation, specifically in understanding the mechanism behind various mRNA quality control pathways and the interactions of proteins therein, as well as with the ribosome. The newest area of research in the lab extends our strengths in ribosome biochemistry to characterize the translation status of the cell using the ribosome profiling. We are using this technique to better understand the role of several factors involved in eukaryotic and prokaryotic translation fidelity.

The Gerard E. Mullin Lab studies nutrition and the way that diet affects weight loss. In particular, we study how having an imbalanced gut microbiome may prevent weight loss in certain people.

Research in the Gregory Kirk Lab examines the natural history of viral infections — particularly HIV and hepatitis viruses — in the U.S. and globally. As part of the ALIVE (AIDS Linked to the Intravenous Experience) study, our research looks at a range of pathogenetic, clinical behavioral issues, with a special focus on non-AIDS-related outcomes of HIV, including cancer and liver and lung diseases. We use imaging and clinical, genetic, epigenetic and proteomic methods to identify and learn more about people at greatest risk for clinically relevant outcomes from HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C infections. Our long-term goal is to translate our findings into targeted interventions that help reduce the disease burden of these infections.

The Goley Lab is broadly interested in understanding cellular organization and dynamic reorganization, with particular focus on the roles of the cytoskeleton in these phenomena. We use cell biological, biochemical, genetic and structural approaches to dissect cytoskeletal processes with the aim of understanding how they work in molecular detail. Currently, we are focused on investigating the mechanisms underlying cytokinesis in bacteria. A deep understanding of cytoskeletal function in bacteria will aid in the identification of targets for novel antibiotic therapies and in efforts in synthetic biology.

Our lab is focused on determining the role of hypoxia in breast cancer metastasis. We are particularly interested in the changes in the extracellular matrix that occur under hypoxic conditions and promote cancer cell migration.