COM Phoenix Campus Administration

My lab employs computational as well as molecular biology approaches in our studies. This involves novel computational methods for detection and analysis of RNA from sequencing data, with a specific focus on empowering researchers using our software by making it user-friendly and accessible. We also establish new molecular assays that will help to shed light on functions of specific RNA molecules. We are especially focused on cardiovascular disease since it is the leading cause of death globally and early diagnosis and treatment are of utmost importance for public health. My current research utilizes computational and biological approaches to examine roles for different RNA species in cardiovascular diseases such as pathological cardiac hypertrophy, a condition that is characterized by the thickening of the heart muscle, a decrease in the size of the chambers of the heart, and a reduced capacity of the heart to pump blood around the body. My lab is working to generate a deeper understanding of the role of RNA molecules in disease by characterizing candidate molecules that in the future might be used to identify diseases during routine checkups, thus helping patients to receive treatment as early as possible.

The focus of my research is understanding how cardiac myocytes adaptively respond to stress with a vision that such responses could become the basis of new therapies for heart diseases that stress cardiac myocytes. The long-term goal of our research program is to better understand the age- and disease-linked deficits in protein homeostasis that contribute to disease-related cardiac dysfunction, and to use this understanding to identify cellular targets that may serve as viable new therapeutic candidates. A major research direction of our lab is to study how heart disease affects gene expression at the post-transcriptional level, which is of major importance for maintaining protein homeostasis. We also study adaptive responses of the heart mediated by proteins secreted by the heart, in order to define potential therapeutic approaches that use the heart’s natural defenses. My current research program utilizes integrative approaches from molecular and organellar to cellular and organismal levels to examine the dynamics of the protein homeostasis network in health and disease.

Dr. Glembotski's research career began when he earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of CA at Los Angeles. His research concerns heart disease, with an overall goal of developing better treatments and cures for the disease that affects more people than any other. The focus of Dr. Glembotski's research program is to learn how the heart functions when it is healthy, discover the molecular basis or causes of pathology in the heart, and then to repair those molecular causes using gene and stem cell therapy approaches, as well as new drug development. Pathologies of the heart, including myocardial infarction (heart attack) and genetically linked impairment of cardiac function, are particularly devastating because the heart cannot heal itself, or regenerate like some other organs do. The result of a loss of heart function in such diseases is an eventual decline of the heart's ability to pump blood, a pathology we call heart failure. So, one of the goals of Dr. Glembotski's research is to improve or emend biochemical pathways in cardiac myocytes so that the loss of functional heart tissue that results from a heart attack is reduced, thus reducing the prevalence of heart failure. This would result in fewer deaths from heart disease, as well as improved quality of life for those afflicted with the disease. Given the population increase taking place in Arizona, and especially considering that many of our citizens are of advanced age, which is just when the natural defense mechanisms of the heart decline, research done in the Glembotski lab has broad and deep implications for improving healthcare in Arizona.

Guy Reed, MD, MS, a noted cardiologist, physician-scientist and health administrator, is the Dean of the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix. Dr. Reed grew up in Colorado and graduated from Columbia University in New York City, where he received his bachelor’s degree in English literature and pre-medical studies. He received a master’s degree in mathematical statistics and a medical degree from Stanford University. He completed his internship, residency and chief residency in internal medicine at Yale University. He completed his fellowship in cardiovascular disease at Massachusetts General Hospital and a post-doctoral research fellowship in biochemistry and molecular biology at Harvard Medical School. For a decade and half, Dr. Reed served in positions of progressive responsibility as a cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and on the faculty at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health. His research interests led him to the "stroke belt" in the southern states. An internationally recognized cardiologist, Dr. Reed is known for his research on the mechanism of blood clots and vascular disease. Through grant support from the National Institutes of Health, he translated his laboratory research findings into an innovative, clot-dissolving therapy to treat patients with strokes and heart attacks, which is now in clinical trials. Recently, Dr. Reed received an innovation award from Inside Memphis Business magazine and a Discovery Award from the president of the University of Tennessee. In 2015, the company he founded to translate his science into therapy — Translational Sciences, Inc. — signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Daiichi Sankyo Company, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, to develop and commercialize the treatment for patients.