Work in the Christian Merlo Lab includes studies on pulmonary arteriovenous malformations, outcomes in lung transplantation and treatment of cystic fibrosis (CF), and HIV-related pulmonary disease. We have studied methods of diagnosing and managing pulmonary arteriovenous malformations as well as the outcomes of adult CF patients who are infected with multiple antibiotic-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Our recent research has also explored recipient and donor variables in the success or failure of lung transplants, and ways in which national healthcare delivery systems impact lung transplant outcomes for CF patients.

The Christopher Potter Lab functions at an intersection between systems and cellular neuroscience. We are interested in how neurons and circuits function in the brain to achieve a common goal (olfaction), but we also develop, utilize and build tools (molecular and genetic) that allow us to directly alter neuronal functions in a living organism. The specific focus of my laboratory is to understand how the insect brain receives, interprets, and responds to odors. Insects rely on their sense of smell for all major life choices, from foraging to mating, from choosing where to lay eggs to avoiding predators and dangers. We are interested in understanding at the neuronal level how odors regulate these behaviors. Our long-term aim is to apply this knowledge to better control insects that pose a threat to human health. Our general approach towards achieving this goal is to develop and employ new genetic methods that enable unprecedented control over neural circuits in both the model organism Drosophila melanogaster and human malaria vector Anopheles gambiae.

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.

Hopkins Conte Digestive Diseases Basic and Translational Research Core Center is an NIH/NIDDK funded, institutionally supported center that has as its mission, to make gastrointestinal studies at Hopkins as outstanding as possible, by encouraging helping develop interactions between Hopkins basic and translational investigators. The Center consists of an Administrative Core, four scientific Cores, an Enrichment Program, a Pilot and Feasibility Project Program, and services a Research Base of ~60 Hopkins faculty investigators. Co-Director, Mark Donowitz, MD Co-Director, Svetlana Lutsenko, PhD

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 CRCIF was established to foster collaborative efforts aimed at elucidating the role of intermediate filaments (IFs) in the heart. Intermediate filaments constitute a class of cytoskeletal proteins in metazoan cells, however, different from actin microfilaments and tubulin microtubules, their function in cardiac cells is poorly understood. Unique from the other two components of the cytoskeleton, IFs are formed by cell type-specific proteins. Desmin is the main component of the IFs in the cardiac myocytes. We measured the consistent induction of desmin post-translational modifications (PTMs, such as phosphorylation, etc.) in various clinical and experimental models of heart failure. Therefore, one of our main focuses is to determine the contribution of desmin PTMs to the development of heart failure in different animal and clinical models. Active Projects: • Quantification of desmin PTM-forms in different forms of heart failure at the peptide level using mass spectrometry • Functional assessment of the role of desmin PTMs in heart failure development using single site mutagenesis and biophysical methods • Molecular characterization of desmin preamyloid oligomers using mass spectrometry, in vitro and in vivo imaging • Assessment of the diagnostic and pharmacological value of desmin PTMs in heart failure development

The Cammarato Lab is located in the Division of Cardiology in the Department of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. We are interested in basic mechanisms of striated muscle biology. We employ an array of imaging techniques to study “structural physiology” of cardiac and skeletal muscle. Drosophila melanogaster, the fruit fly, expresses both forms of striated muscle and benefits greatly from powerful genetic tools. We investigate conserved myopathic (muscle disease) processes and perform hierarchical and integrative analysis of muscle function from the level of single molecules and macromolecular complexes through the level of the tissue itself. Anthony Ross Cammarato, MD, is an assistant professor of medicine in the Cardiology Department. He studies the identification and manipulation of age- and mutation-dependent modifiers of cardiac function, hierarchical modeling and imaging of contractile machinery, integrative analysis of striated muscle performance and myopathic processes.

Research in the Bakker Memory Laboratory is focused on understanding the mechanisms and brain networks underlying human cognition with a specific focus on the mechanisms underlying learning and memory and the changes in memory that occur with aging and disease. We use a variety of techniques including neuropsychological assessments, experimental behavioral assessments and particularly advanced neuroimaging methods to study these questions in young and older adults and patients with mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy. Through our collaborations with investigators in both basic science and clinical departments, including the departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Psychological and Brain Sciences, Neurology and Public Health, our research also focuses on brain systems involved in spatial navigation and decision-making as well as cognitive impairment in neuropsychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, depression and anxiety.

The Daniel Nyhan Lab studies vascular changes that accompany aging to determine the underlying causes and find ways to reverse the process. One goal of our research is to identify the factors that cause vascular stiffness. Our hope is that our work in vascular biology will lead to new ways to improve vascular compliance and thereby improve cardiovascular function and perioperative risk.

The Daniel Weinberger Laboratory focuses on the neurobiological mechanisms of genetic risk for developmental brain disorders. We study the genetic regulation of the transcriptome in normal human brain across the human life span and in brains from patients with various psychiatric disorders. We also study the impact of genetic variation on aspects of human brain development and function linked with risk for schizophrenia and related psychiatric disorders. Our lab uses unique molecular and clinical datasets and biological materials from a large sample of families with affected and unaffected offspring and normal volunteers. These datasets include DNA, lymphoblast and fibroblast cell lines, and extensive quantitative phenotypes related to genetic risk for schizophrenia, including detailed cognitive assessments and various neuroimaging assays. In other research, we are working on a human brain transcriptome project that is RNA sequencing over 1,000 human brain samples in various regions and based also on sorting of specific celliular phentypes. We are exploring the molecular processing of the gene and its implications for cognition and aspects of human temperament.