Cardiac Genomics

Cardiac transcriptomes have varying signatures across different ages, sexes, and cardiomyopathies, which can be regulated by transcriptional regulatory elements (TREs). The network of regulatory elements comprising promoters and enhancers can be identified by Cap Analysis of Gene Expression (CAGE). In collaboration with Dr. Oleg Gusev at Juntendo University in Japan, our previous CAGE atlas study demonstrated a significant number of differentially expressed enhancers and alternative promoter usage in hearts from heart failure patients. In addition, chamber-specific and disease-specific promoter usage provides more fundamental insights in gene regulation in heart diseases. We are currently investigating regulatory roles of sex and age in failing hearts, using CAGE and sc-RNA sequencing. Our open-access heart CAGE atlas serves the cardiovascular community in improving the understanding of the role of the cardiac gene regulatory network in cardiovascular disease and therapy.

Diagram comparing healthy and failing human hearts alongside genomic sequencing tracks (CAGE and RNA-seq) mapping promoters, enhancers, and gene expression.