Na Li Lab

Cardiac arrhythmias severely affect the cardiac performance, and in some cases are lethal. Arrhythmias can result from dysfunctional ion channels located on the plasma membrane or abnormal intracellular calcium handling. Emerging evidence suggests that risk factors for arrhythmias, such as inflammation, obesity, hypertension, etc. can modify the function of cardiac ion channels and calcium handling proteins via transcriptional or posttranscriptional mechanisms. The goal of our research is to elucidate the mechanistic link between these risk factors and the pathophysiology of cardiac arrhythmias, in order to develop novel therapeutic targets for arrhythmic patients.

Currently, the lab is focusing on two research areas: inflammasome-mediated pathogenesis of atrial fibrillation, and the role of FKBP5 in cardiac arrhythmia and cardiomyopathy. We employ multidisciplinary approaches including electrophysiological studies, biochemical and molecular biological studies, bioinformatics analyses, and transcriptomics studies, etc. and utilize genetically engineered mouse models and human cardiac samples in our projects.

Li lab is funded by research grants from the National Institutes of Health. The trainees also received the fellowship from American Heart Association.