Research Seminar: “Beyond Transcription Factors: Discovering Novel Regulators of Cardiogenesis”

Speaker: Todd Evans, PhD, Peter I. Pressman MD Professor of Surgery, Vice Chair for Research, Chief Division of Research, Department of Surgery, Weill Cornell Medical College
Talk Summary: Three highly related genes, Gata4, Gata5, and Gata6, encode transcription factors that regulate essentially every aspect of cardiac biology, from specification of cardiac progenitors to heart regeneration. Furthermore, mutations in each of the genes have individually been associated with human cardiomyopathies, including atrial and ventricular septal defects, tetralogy of Fallot, bicuspid aortic valve syndrome, and familial dilated cardiomyopathy. The key downstream target genes that control diverse functions including lineage specification, growth, and morphogenesis are mostly unknown. We carried out screens in zebrafish to find such genes, and discovered previously unrecognized mediators of WNT signaling and sarcomere proteostasis, which are conserved during human cardiogenesis, as modeled by hESC differentiation. Discovery of genes controlled by GATA factors is proving to be a productive strategy for finding new important regulators of cardiac biology.
Hosted by Ching-Ling (Ellen) Lien, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of Southern California, Children's Hospital Los Angeles