BIDMC Harvard Medical School Broad Institute

Our Research

Our laboratory focuses on the nexus of cardiac and metabolic diseases. To expand the novelty and clinical impact of our studies, we have developed and incorporated emerging mass-spectrometry-based technologies towards the discovery of new biomarkers and pathways contributing to atherogenesis and its complications.  We make observations in humans, and then turn back to cell and animal based systems to test for causal relationships. We are particularly drawn to the field of biochemical profiling or “metabolomics,” since an emerging literature suggests unsuspected roles for seemingly intracellular small molecules serving in hormone-like capacities on distant organs, such as in the control of blood pressure and in glucose homeostasis. Further, because small molecules are downstream of genetic variation, transcriptional changes, etc., serving as “proximal reporters” of physiology, we believe that they might be highly relevant biomarkers for human diseases.

Our research incorporates basic molecular and cell biology, chemistry and mass spectrometry, bioinformatics, all with a foundation in clinical medicine.