Newly Funded Lab Members!
We're thrilled to announce that several members of the Martin Lab have been awarded independence and fellowship grants this year! Below please read about these extraordinary individuals.
The NIH NHLBI awarded Dr. Rich Li the prestigious K99 Pathway to Independence Award, which runs from August 2024 through July 2026.
For his project, “Complement in the cellular microenvironment during cardiac renewal, " he is exploring how activating the Complement pathway in cardiac fibroblasts and macrophages can promote cardiomyocyte (CM) proliferation and regeneration. This work focuses on understanding the interactions within the cardiac microenvironment, which could potentially lead to new therapeutic strategies for heart failure by targeting CM renewal.
For more details on Dr. Li’s K99, visit the NIH Reporter page.
Dr. Fansen Meng was awarded a Career Development Award from the American Heart Association. This award mechanism supports early-stage investigators with their projects in preparation for their careers.
His three-year project, “Transient YAP Activation in Cardiomyocytes Induces Long-term Protection Against Injury, “ investigates how activation of the Hippo signaling pathway effector YAP can provide long-term protection against myocardial infarction (MI). For this work, he is developing a novel gene therapy model that uses a small molecule to induce YAP activation in CMs. This work has the exciting potential to innovate MI treatments by promoting cardiac regeneration and reducing fibrosis. His project runs from July 2024 through June 2027.
Dr. Lin Liu was awarded an AHA Postdoctoral fellowship for his project, “YAP induces cardiogenesis by directing cardiomyocyte metabolic remodeling“. His fellowship runs from January 2024 through December 2025.
The goal of Dr. Liu’s project is to understand how YAP activation induces CM proliferation through metabolic remodeling. His hypothesis is that in cardiac conditions such as an MI or heart failure, this pathway promotes antioxidant defenses, thereby enabling CM cell cycle re-entry and efficient cardiac regeneration.
Join us in congratulating our postdocs on this remarkable achievement by leaving a comment!