Research Interests
Embryonic and adult stem cell therapies for heart and muscle disease; cardiac and skeletal muscle tissue engineering; cardiac electrophysiology and arrhythmias; genetic modifications of stem and somatic cells; micropatterning of proteins and hydrogels.
Selected Grants
Engineering Heterocellular Human Skeletal Muscle Tissues to Recreate and Study Native Stem Cell Niche Function
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2024 - 2029Engineering a Human Skeletal Muscle Tissue Model of LGMD2B
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2023 - 2028The role of the sodium potassium ATPase type alpha-3 subunit in sudden cardiac arrest
ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2022 - 2027Medical Scientist Training Program
Inst. Training Prgm or CMEPreceptor · Awarded by National Institute of General Medical Sciences · 2022 - 2027University Training Program in Biomolecular and Tissue Engineering
Inst. Training Prgm or CMEMentor · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 1994 - 2027Training Program in Developmental and Stem Cell Biology
Inst. Training Prgm or CMEMentor · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2001 - 2027Comorbidity-Specific Microphysiological Stroke Models for Developing Personalized Stem Cell Therapies
ResearchMentor · Awarded by American Heart Association · 2024 - 2027Myovascular Mechanisms of Cardiac Growth and Regeneration
ResearchCollaborator · Awarded by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute · 2022 - 2026Stable therapy in Pompe disease through genome editing
ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases · 2021 - 2026Cell and Molecular Biology Training Program
Inst. Training Prgm or CMEMentor · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2021 - 2026Engineering Human Heart Tissues with Polyploid Cardiomyocytes
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2022 - 2026Engineered BacNav and BacCav for Improved Excitability and Contraction
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering · 2022 - 2026Development of 3-dimensional human skeletal muscle tissue models of MD Type 2B
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Jain Foundation · 2017 - 2025Regulation of myocardial GPCRs by USP20 in normal and hypertrophied heart
ResearchCollaborating Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2021 - 2025Leica Stellaris Confocal for a Campus-wide Shared Resource
EquipmentMajor User · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2024 - 2025Investigating Mitogenic Mechanism and Therapeutic Efficacy of Adenosine Deaminase Knockout in Human and Murine Cardiomyocytes
FellowshipPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2022 - 2024Engineering Highly Functional Pre-Vascularized Human Skeletal Muscle for In Vitro and In Vivo Applications
FellowshipPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2022 - 2024Microphysiological Human Tissue Systems for Monitoring of Genome Editing Outcomes
ResearchCo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2019 - 2024Investigating Mitogenic Mechanism and Therapeutic Efficacy of Adenosine Deaminase Knockout in Human and Murine Cardiomyocytes
FellowshipPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by American Heart Association · 2022 - 2024Investigating the Role of Polyploidy in the Maturation of hiPSC-derived Cardiomyocytes
FellowshipPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2021 - 2024Biochemical and functional investigation of the novel enzymatic activities of Mesh1
ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2018 - 2024Epigenetic Mechanisms Promoting Longevity
ResearchInvestigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2018 - 2024Integrated Cellular and Tissue Engineering for Ischemic Heart Disease
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by University of Alabama at Birmingham · 2016 - 2024Engineered Prokaryotic Ion Channel Gene Therapy for Brugada Syndrome
FellowshipPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by American Heart Association · 2022 - 2023Mechanical regulation of maturation and pathology of engineered human heart tissues
FellowshipPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by American Heart Association · 2022 - 2023Exercise Induced Muscle Secreted Factors That Modify Osteoarthritis (OA) Severity
ResearchInvestigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2021 - 2023Multidisciplinary Heart and Vascular Diseases
Inst. Training Prgm or CMEMentor · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 1975 - 2023Muscle-macrophage constructs for skeletal muscle repair
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2016 - 2023Genome editing for the correction of Pompe disease
ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2020 - 2022Systemic Inflammation in Microphysiological Models of Muscle and Vascular Disease
ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2017 - 2022Eliciting heart regeneration through cardiomyocyte division
ResearchCo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by Fondation Leducq · 2016 - 2022Engineering of Human Excitable Tissues from Unexcitable Cells
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2016 - 2022In Vitro and In Situ Engineering of Fibroblasts for Cardiac Repair
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2016 - 2022A fully biological platform for monitoring mesoscale neural activity
ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2018 - 2021Translational studies of GAA deficiency in bioengineered human muscle
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2013 - 2019Circulatory system and integrated muscle tissue for drug and tissue toxicity
ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2012 - 2018Bioengineering a Living Tissue Conductor
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2015 - 2018Skeletal Muscle Bundle Technology to qualify Human Biomarkers for Muscle Degeneration / Necrosis
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Pfizer, Inc. · 2017 - 2018Effects of Chondroitin Sulfate and Chrondroitin Sulfate/Glucosamine on Muscle Immune Signaling and Function in TNF-alpha Stimulated Three Dimensional Muscle Cultures
ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by Bioiberica, S.A. · 2016 - 2017Functional 3D Cardiac Patches Derived from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
FellowshipPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2014 - 2016Function and Integration of Stem Cell-derived Cardiac Tissue Patch
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2010 - 2016Modeling Cardiac Impulse Propagation at the Microscale
ResearchInvestigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2009 - 2015Mechanisms for Stem Cell Differentiation into Cardiac Myocytes
ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2009 - 2011External Relationships
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering (IMGG), Belgrade, Serbia
This faculty member (or a member of their immediate family) has reported outside activities with the companies, institutions, or organizations listed above. This information is available to institutional leadership and, when appropriate, management plans are in place to address potential conflicts of interest.