The major focus of our research is to determine the cellular and molecular mechanisms that play key roles in the development of diabetic vascular complications. We use genomic, transcriptomic and epigenomic approaches in cell culture, animal and clinical models to examine our hypothesis that accelerated vascular complications result from enhanced vascular and renal cell growth, and also monocyte activation due to altered expression of inflammatory cytokines, chemokines and lipids under diabetic conditions.

We are actively evaluating molecular mechanisms involved in the expression of pathological genes under diabetic conditions and in promoting metabolic memory. We have demonstrated the role of specific chromatin histone posttranslational modifications in the epigenetic regulation of inflammatory genes. We use epigenomic profiling approaches to map histone modifications, DNA methylation and binding of chromatin factors at diabetes-regulated genes with techniques such as Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays, ChIP-linked to microarrays, and ChIP-Sequencing. We have uncovered key epigenetic alterations under diabetic conditions in vitro, in vivo in diabetic mice, and in cells from diabetic patients, and shown relevance to the phenomenon of metabolic memory.

Another active area is the evaluation of specific microRNAs in regulating the expression of inflammatory and fibrotic genes under diabetic conditions. We are examining various mechanisms of microRNA regulation, performing expression profiling using RNA-sequencing, and studying how key microRNAs co-operate with each other in a circuit to amplify the effects of growth factors under diabetic conditions. To test the functional significance in the kidney, we are generating microRNA knockout mice and also evaluating novel modified inhibitors of specific microRNAs (antagomirs) on the progression of diabetic kidney disease in mouse models.

Rama Natarajan, Ph..D., FAHA, FASN
National Office Products Endowed Professor
626-256-HOPE (4673), ext. 62289

Marpadga A. Reddy, Ph.D.
Assistant Research Professor
626-256-HOPE (4673), ext. 63671

Feng Miao, Ph.D.
Assistant Research Professor
626-256-HOPE (4673), ext. 65575

Mitsuo Kato, Ph.D.
Assistant Research Professor
626-256-HOPE (4673), ext. 63996

Kirti Bhatt, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
626-256-HOPE (4673), ext. 65811

Nancy Castro, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
626-256-HOPE (4673), ext. 64690

Ali Ehsani, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
626-256-HOPE (4673), ext. 64690

Amy Leung, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
626-256-HOPE (4673), ext. 62278

Sumanth Putta, Ph.D., B.V.Sc., M.S.
Postdoctoral Fellow
626-256-HOPE (4673), ext. 63457

Hang Yuan, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
626-256-HOPE (4673), ext. 65817

Jung-tak Park, M.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
626-256-HOPE (4673), ext. 64809

Supriya Deschpande
Graduate Student
626-256-HOPE (4673), ext. 65835

Wen Jin
Graduate Student
626-256-HOPE (4673), ext. 65823

Linda Lanting, B.S.
Research Associate
626-256-HOPE (4673), ext. 64692

Mei Wang, M.S.
Research Associate
626-256-HOPE (4673), ext. 64676

Lingxiao Zhang, M.S.
Research Associate
626-256-HOPE (4673), ext. 65571

Nancy (Zhuo) Chen
Bioinformatics Specialist
656-256-HOPE (4673), ext. 65058