MHI Seminar Series presents Rebekah Gundry, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Cellular & Integrative Physiology, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE

Summary of Seminar:  Cell surface glycoproteins detect and transmit signals among cells and thus play central roles in cardiac physiology. Clinically, cell surface proteins are a rich source for biomarkers that distinguish cellular phenotypes and disease states, and for targets of drugs or compounds useful in the treatment of cardiac disorders or diseases. Despite their relevance, we have an incomplete understanding of proteins and signaling pathways differentially present in normal or diseased myocardium, a limited number of accessible targets for organ- and cell type-directed drug delivery, and few validated cell type-specific reagents for cell sorting and imaging of cardiac cells. This presentation will describe the development and application of new analytical platforms that provide unprecedented insight and empirical evidence of differences between cardiac cells at a molecular level inaccessible to transcriptomics and generic proteomic approaches. These data informed the development of a novel monoclonal antibody targeting a previously unknown, but highly selective cardiomyocyte protein, reveals key dissimilarities between pluripotent stem cell derivatives and their primary cell counterparts, including drug targets, and exposes previously uncharacterized differences in the surfaceome of cardiomyocytes in failing and non-failing hearts. Also, novel insights into cardiac fibroblast surfaceome dynamics due to extended culturing were revealed, which expose limitations associated with isolating and explanting human cardiac fibroblasts for research studies.

UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, Pagano Conference Room (LCCC 00-002)
450 West Dr.
Chapel HIll, North Carolina 27599
United States
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