Mattia Quattrocelli, PhD
The Quattrocelli lab investigates molecular mechanisms underlying disease and metabolic dysfunction in the heart and skeletal muscle. The goal is to identify novel treatments that improve heart and skeletal muscle function in health and disease. The Quattrocelli lab discovered that altering the intake frequency of glucocorticoid steroids can dramatically change their action in muscle from pro- to anti-obesogenic. The labs identification of novel molecular mechanism relation, in part, to the circadian clock. This means the timing of glucocorticoid administration can be leveraged to have exclusively positive effects on heart and skeletal muscle metabolism and performance, antagonizing disease and aging. The laboratory receives funding grants from the NIH, both the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute as well as the National Institute on Aging, with recent publications in Science Advances and Molecular Metabolism.
Cat Makarewich, PhD
The Makarewich lab’s research focuses on identifying and characterizing novel genes that regulate cardiac muscle biology to define new molecular mechanisms contributing to cardiovascular disease pathophysiology. Many of the genes the Makarewich lab work on belong to a family of small proteins called microproteins previously overlooked by standard gene annotation methods because of their small size. Microproteins are a rapidly expanding class of molecules shown to play important roles in fundamental biological processes, including calcium signaling, metabolism, development and stress signaling. Makarewich’s research on microproteins is the recipient of recent funding from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the NIH and led to the discovery of a novel mitochondrial microprotein essential for energy production in the heart. A recent publication in PNAS highlights these findings. The Makarewich lab is actively pursuing this mitochondrial microprotein (and others) as new targets for heart failure therapeutics.
