Research Interests

• My research interests focus on cardiac Ca2+ homeostasis and cellular metabolism biology. I have extended my scientific scope and studied the extraordinary potential of direct Ca2+ depended metabolic regulation in cardiomyopathy. These efforts led to the accomplishment of a unique novel technique ----- highly sensitive and specific system to real-time monitor mitochondrial Ca2+ homeostasis in intact cardiac myocyte/ whole heart, and for the first time clarified the sarcoplasmic reticulum -mitochondrial Ca2+ communication in cardiac myocyte. (Lu et al. Circ Res. 2013; 112(3):424-31). More significantly, by using cardiac specific conditional mitochondrial Ca2+ uniporter (MCU) knockout mice, I identified MCU as a dedicated regulator of short-term mitochondrial Ca2+ loading underlying a “fight-or-flight” response that acutely matches cardiac workload with ATP production (Cell Report. 2015; 21(1):15-22). Moreover, my recent work observed a novel transient mode of mitochondrial permeability transition pore opening (tPTP), with lower conductance to protect cell against pathological Ca2+ overload (Circ Res. 2016, 118(5):834-41).