Environmental Factor, August 2007, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Andrew Marks to Speak October 9
By Eddy Ball
October 2007
The 2007-2008 NIEHS Distinguished Lecture Series will continue on October 9 with a talk by Andrew Marks, M.D., at 11:00 a.m in Rodbell Auditorium. Marks will speak on "Defective Calcium Regulation as a Cause of Heart Failure and Sudden Cardiac Death.
Marks is a professor and chair of the Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He also serves as the director of the Center for Molecular Cardiology.
Using a variety of techniques including molecular biology, biophysics, cell biology, imaging and structural biology, Marks' laboratory studies the mechanisms that regulate muscle contraction. He and his group are especially interested in understanding better the regulation of calcium release channels on the sarcoplasmic reticulum that control excitation-contraction (EC) coupling in cardiac and skeletal muscle.
The lab has developed a number of genetic mouse models (primarily knock-ins and knock-outs) to provide insights into the regulation of key signaling pathways that control muscle contraction. Marks' group has also tested novel therapeutic approaches, including those that fix the "leak" in the RyR2 calcium release channel that causes heart failure and sudden cardiac death.
Marks' lecture will be hosted by Pharmacologist Jim Putney, Ph.D., head of the Calcium Regulation Group in the Laboratory of Signal Transduction.
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