BS, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Biology - 1991

The overall aim of my research is to understand the molecular mechanisms regulating organ size. The model system and application we have chosen to study is regulation of skeletal muscle mass in disease. Muscle size is highly plastic and extraordinarily responsive to changes in single genes or pathways. Furthermore, skeletal muscle protein stores and metabolic functions play important and essential roles in the physiologic response to injury and disease. We seek to discover the molecular pathways regulating muscle plasticity in the setting of serious illness. My current funding is directed at defining the roles of three different signaling pathways, IL-6/STAT3, myostatin/ACVR2/SMAD pathway, and SHH/Smo/Gli1 in skeletal muscle wasting in cancer and burn injury. My discovery efforts are aimed at integrating these projects, identifying novel modulators of muscle size and defining the transcriptional cascades involved in muscle growth regulation. The long term goal is to develop targeted interventions for muscle preservation and functional recovery in chronic disease.

Cachexia; regeneration; molecular biology; STAT3; IL-6; myostatin; TGF-beta superfamily; liver regeneration; muscle atrophy; microarray; C2C12 myofibers; primary cultures; translational research; cancer; oncology; burn injury; muscle wasting; ACVR2B; cytokines; inflammation; cachexia phenotyping; integrative physiology; SHH; Gli1; SMO