C. S. Mott Children's Hospital
Basic Research
Ravi Birla, Ph.D., Division of Thoracic Surgery:
Dr. Birla is the director of the Artificial Heart Laboratory at the University of Michigan. His primary research interest is in functional cardio-vascular tissue engineering. His laboratory has developed several models for cardiac muscle in vitro utilizing self organizing strategies, bio-degradable hydrogels and polymeric scaffolds. In addition, he has active programs in the area of functional valve and vascular tissue engineering. He is currently developing models of cell based cardiac pumps that simulate functioning ventricles. In addition to developing models of cardio-vascular structures, his laboratory has an interest in developing bioreactors and micro-perfusion systems to support the longevity of tissue engineered constructs.
Andrei B. Borisov, Ph.D., Division of Pediatric Cardiology:
Dr. Borisov is a highly trained investigator with 25 years of experience in muscle cell biology and research interests in cardiac stem cell biology and new muscle fiber assembly. He has expertise in the establishing and maintaining primary cardiac myocyte cell cultures and in the pathologic analysis and imaging of cardiac muscle.
Eric J. Devaney, M.D., Division of Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery
Dr. Devaney is a pediatric cardiac surgeon with clinical interests in neonatal cardiac surgery and the surgery of adults with congenital heart disease. His clinical research involves the use of ventricular assist devices for the treatment of medically refractory heart failure. In the laboratory, Dr. Devaney collaborates with Dr. Joseph Metzger in the Department of Physiology on a number of projects investigating the molecular mechanisms of heart failure and cardiomyopathy. Specifically, Dr. Devaney is studying the the effects of sarcomeric gene mutations on the development of cardiomyopathy, and the use of therapeutic gene delivery to alter the phenotype of congestive heart failure.
Mark W. Russell, M.D., Division of Pediatric Cardiology:
Dr. Russell, the Aaron Stern Professor of Pediatric Cardiology, directs a basic research laboratory that focuses on the growth and structural maturation of heart muscle. He has recently established the Thurman O. Armstrong Sr. and Mary E. Armstrong Zebrafish facility which be utilized by multiple investigators studying heart and muscle development. Investigators in the laboratory have identified two novel proteins involved in the structure and organization of heart muscle, one of which was recently determined to be a cause of abnormal cardiac hypertrophy. Ongoing studies are examining the signaling processes that regulate heart growth with the goal of regulating those signals in order to aid the treatment of patients with severe forms of congenital heart disease including hypoplastic left heart syndrome.
Margaret V. Westfall, Ph.D., Division of Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery:
Dr. Westfall has an extremely productive laboratory that has made high-impact contributions in defining the impact of cell signaling pathways on cardiac muscle function. The goal of her investigations is to target these signaling pathways for the treatment of congestive heart failure, a common and often fatal disorder characterized by diminished heart function.
