Primary Mentor:

Vicky Yang DVM PhD DACVIM (Cardiology), Research Assistant Professor, [email protected]

Mentor Team:

Howard Chen PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Tufts Medical Center

Cheryl London DVM PhD DACVIM (Oncology), Research Professor, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education, Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine

Jenica Upshaw MD, Medical Director, Cardio-Oncology Program, Tufts Medical Center. Assistant Professor, Tufts University School of Medicine

Description of Potential Research Project(s):

Using the cardiac slice culture model developed by our lab, we will examine the effects of doxorubicin and tyrosine kinase inhibitors on the autophagic flux in canine, human, and mouse hearts.  Autophagy will be characterized using conventional protein markers such as LC3I/II and p62, as well as a novel autophagy detecting nanoparticle (ADN) developed by the Chen lab.  Concurrently, cultured cardiac slices will be co-treated with commonly used cardioprotective agents in human and canine patients to determine if the autophagy flux can be manipulated to decrease cardiomyocyte cell death.  We will examine the interplay between the autophagic flux with extracellular vesicle associated non-coding RNA from cardiomyocytes.

Additional Training Opportunities:

As a member fo the Yang lab, the fellow will participate in weekly lab meetings to present research findings and updates.  The fellow is expected to attend the bi-weekly cardiology section rounds and journal club and the weekly hospital grand rounds, during which the fellow will be presenting research updates once a year.  Furthermore, the fellow will participate in the monthly meeting for the Tufts Medical Center Molecular Cardiology Research Institute cardio-oncology working group, during which members discuss research progress, grant ideas, and critique grant proposals.  Drs. Chen, London, Upshaw, and Yang are all members of this working group. The fellow will also have access to the monthly seminars at the Tufts Molecular Cardiology Research Institute.  The fellow will be expected to complete a course in Responsible Conduct in Research and Grant Writing for Page One offered through Tufts University CTSI.