Cardiac Signaling Center
Research Interests
Dr. Morad is an internationally recognized scientist in the field of cardiac electrophysiology and calcium signaling, specifically in the area of calcium-binding proteins. The cardiac muscle is a complex system composed of 40,000 proteins. These proteins "tell" the heart how to contract and how fast; they also control how heart muscle grows and regenerates. Calcium acts as a signaling mechanism in the function of these proteins. Dr. Morad seeks to discover what causes these calcium signaling mechanisms to stop working properly, which can result in congestive heart failure. Understanding this process could lead to new therapeutic approaches to treat congestive heart failure and other conditions. His work could lead to the world's first tissue-derived human heart pacemaker. A biological pacemaker derived from genetically engineered cells has great commercial viability as a replacement for current pacemaker technology made from artificial materials
