Work in the Wei Dong Gao Lab primarily focuses on heart failure and defining molecular and cellular mechanisms of contractile dysfunction. We use molecular biology and proteomic techniques to investigate the changes that myofilament proteins undergo during heart failure and under drug therapy. We're working to determine the molecular nature of nitroxyl (HNO) modification of tropomyosin.

Basic science investigations in the Umapathi Lab focus on understanding how metabolic dysregulation drives heart failure and cardiomyopathy. The laboratory employs patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) models, transgenic mouse systems, and advanced proteomics to define the molecular mechanisms underlying metabolic heart failure (MetHF), with particular emphasis on O-GlcNAcylation and cardiac energetics in heart failure. Additional research explores the mechanistic basis of contractile dysfunction/arrhythmias in inherited cardiomyopathies, particularly LMNA-related disease, integrating calcium signaling, mechanobiology, and electrophysiology to identify novel therapeutic targets for conduction abnormalities and ventricular arrhythmias.