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Personnel

  • Isobel Addison

    Discovery of phenytoin-like compounds for anti-arrhythmic potential

  • Lily Burgin Penlington

    The Sex-Specific Effect of CaMKII Nitrosylation on cardiac myocyte ultrastructure

  • Anna Chang

    Anti-Arrhythmic Potential of Phenytoin-Derived Compounds: Targeting RyR2-Mediated Calcium Leak

  • Associate Professor Jeff Erickson

    Heart disease

  • Kai Grinberg

    Investigating if CaMKII ablation prevents altered cardiac function in a mouse model of diabetes

  • Marnie Hall

    Quantifying sex-based differences in apoptosis and fibrosis in nitric oxide sensitive mouse hearts

  • Lauren Kruger

    A Novel CaMKII Mutation Alters Kinase Activity and Cardiac Calcium Handling

  • Rachel Wallace

    Cellular signaling in the cardiovascular system

Research interests

My research focuses on investigating the mechanisms that underlie heart failure and vascular disease particularly in the context of hypertension and diabetes. To this end, we have developed a number of novel tools to assess cardiovascular signaling pathways.

These include:

  • FRET-based biosensors to measure kinase activity and localization in living cells
  • Custom antibodies to measure biochemical modifications of proteins
  • A variety of animal models with enhanced or reduced susceptibility to cardiovascular pathology.

With this research, we hope to contribute new understanding to the molecular basis of cardiovascular signaling that will culminate in potential clinical therapies for heart disease and atherosclerosis.

Projects

  • Identifying the mechanism by which CaMKII regulates cellular signaling in the diabetic heart
  • The role of CaMKII in vascular physiology and pathology
  • Nitric oxide as a mediator of cardiac signaling

Current funding

  • Health Research Council Project Grant
  • Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fast Start Research Grant
  • University of Otago Research Grant

Previous funding

  • American Heart Association Scientist Development Grant
  • National Institute of Health T32 Fellowship

Publications

Anscombe, M. J., Jones, P. P., & Erickson, J. R. (2024, August-September). HEK293-RyR2 cells as a model for cardiac arrhythmia in high throughput screening. Poster session presented at the 18th New Zealand Medical Sciences Congress (MedSci), Queenstown, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Poster Presentation (not in published proceedings)

Power, A. S., Asamudo, E. U., Worthington, L. P. I., Alim, C. C., Parackal, R. E., Wallace, R. S., Ebenebe, O. V., … Erickson, J. R. (2023). Nitric oxide modulates Ca2+ leak and arrhythmias via S-nitrosylation of CaMKII. Circulation Research, 133, 1040-1055. doi: 10.1161/circresaha.123.323571 Journal - Research Article

Okolo, C. A., Khaing, E.-P., Mereacre, V., Wallace, R. S., Munro, M. L., Erickson, J. R., & Jones, P. P. (2023). Direct regulation of the cardiac ryanodine receptor (RyR2) by O-GlcNAcylation. Cardiovascular Diabetology, 22, 276. doi: 10.1186/s12933-023-02010-3 Journal - Research Article

Singh, E., Chandrasekera, D., Wallace, R. S., de Jonge, W., Bunton, R., Parry, D., Davis, P., Erickson, J. R., & Katare, R. (2023, August). Impact of microRNA15b and CaMKIIδ on cardiac fibrosis in diabetes. Poster session presented at the 17th New Zealand Medical Sciences Congress (MedSci), Queenstown, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Poster Presentation (not in published proceedings)

Power, A. S., Karanikolaou, P., Erickson, J. R., & Ward, M.-L. (2023, August). Modulating mitochondrial calcium to improve energy supply in the human heart. Verbal presentation at the 17th New Zealand Medical Sciences Congress (MedSci), Queenstown, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

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