Cardiology Research

Gazes Cardiac Research Institute

Founded in 1987, and named in honor of Peter Gazes, M.D., the Gazes Cardiac Research Institute is one of the nation's leading centers for heart failure research.

Directed by Kurt Prins, M.D., Ph.D., the Institute brings together a broad group of investigators interested in fundamental cardiovascular biology, the translation of basic scientific discoveries to clinical practice, and clinical research. The institute uses cutting edge approaches including single cell biology, proteomics, metabolomics, and genetic analyses in preclinical and clinical specimens.

The collaborative interactions within the Institute and broader university, including the Departments of Regenerative Medicine and Cell Biology, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Cardiac Surgery, Pharmacology & Immunology, and Comparative Medicine foster a multidisciplinary approach to basic, translational, and clinical research. 

Areas of Research

  • Defining the role of cardiac fibrosis and fibroblast biology in heart failure with both preserved and reduced ejection fraction populations.
  • Cardio-Immunology: Understand how T-cells and macrophages modulate cardiac biology in the setting of myocardial infarction or pressure overload.
  • Heart brain connection in Alzheimer's disease.
  • Heart brain connection in post-traumatic stress disorder.
  • Skeletal muscle microvascular dysfunction in heart failure.
  • Epigenetic regulation of cardiac biology and immune cells in the spleen.
  • Use of artificial intelligence to diagnose and understand cardiovascular disease.
  • Mechanisms underlying right ventricular failure ranging from microtubule derangements, sarcomere dysfunction, pro-inflammatory mediators, and mitochondrial dysfunction.
  • End-organ dysfunction including skeletal muscle, kidney, and liver in multiple etiologies of heart failure.
  • Our robust clinical research program currently has more than 50 ongoing trials in cardiac arrhythmia, congestive heart failure, coronary intervention and heart transplant.

Investigators