Lilei Zhang, M.D., Ph.D.

Position

Address

BCM-MD Anderson Hall (Work)
Room: BCMA-441E
Mail Stop: BCM225
Houston, Texas 77030
United States
(713) 798-2285
Google Maps

BCM-MD Anderson Hall (Office)
Room: BCMA-441E
Mail Stop: BCM225
Houston, Texas 77030
United States
(713) 798-2285
Google Maps

Professional Statement

The overarching theme of our laboratory is to understand the genomic and epigenomic regulation of the cardiovascular system in health and in disease with an emphasis on heart failure and cardiomyopathies. One of our research focuses is circadian gene regulation in cardiac remodeling. Our work covers the entire circadian regulatory landscape, from the core clock, to the slave clock, to the effectors. We discovered that core clock factor REV-ERB is protective for cardiac pathological remodeling and pharmacological activation of REV-ERB prevents heart failure progression even in late-stages. This was the first example of treating heart failure by manipulating circadian machineries. We also established the very first cardiac slave clock, KLF15, which controls the circadian ischemia reperfusion injury in the heart. Recently, we discovered the first circadian lncRNA, Circa. Circa is uniquely expressed in the adult cardiomyocytes and protects the heart during pressure overload and myocardial infarction through global regulation of alternative splicing via interaction with hnRNP A1. Our goal is to gain knowledge on circadian gene regulation in the heart and ultimately to use this information to design novel therapeutics for heart failure. Another focus of our laboratory is to study patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cell differentiated cardiomyocytes from patients with inherited cardiomyopathies. Using a comprehensive panel of phenotyping tools (biophysics, electrophysiology, energetics, and imaging) combined with genome editing tools, we aim to establish a platform to diagnose the molecular defects, characterize the pathogenic pathways and develop targeted therapy for inherited cardiomyopathies.