Heart disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide, despite improved treatments that have decreased death rates from cardiovascular diseases. According to the latest annual report from the American Heart Association, an estimated one of three American adults have at least one type of cardiovascular disease, including 7.6 million patients with new or recurring myocardial infarction, known as heart attack, and 5.7 million patients with heart failure.

Our lab is focused on arrhythmia and cardiac regeneration research. Our primary goal is to uncover the molecular mechanisms that maintain cardiac function and leverage the knowledge to develop therapies for cardiovascular diseases. Currently, we are investigating the unconventional functions of non-coding RNAs, specifically microRNA and lncRNA, in the context of cardiac arrhythmia and myocardial injury.