Our Research Mission
Understanding organelle communication and repair pathways to prevent irreversible myocardial damage.
Research Pillars
Diabetic Cardiac Injury
Investigating how diabetic stresses (hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia) trigger lysosomal membrane injury, disrupting autophagy pathways and ultimately leading to cardiac cell hypertrophy and heart failure.
Chemotherapy Cardiotoxicity
Focusing on the long-term and irreversible myocardial damage caused by anticancer drugs such as Doxorubicin. We investigate lysosomal dysfunction, organelle-to-organelle communication failure, and metabolic abnormalities.
The Metaphor: "Rescue That Frogs!"
Diabetes and cancer therapeutics turn up the heat slowly. The cardiac muscle cells do not realize they are in danger until it is too late—much like a frog in slowly boiling water.
Our research focuses on lysosomes, which serve as the internal defense force of heart cells. When lysosomes are compromised by sugar rushes or chemotherapy stresses, cells lose their ability to adapt and fail to respond to the creeping danger. The "frog" loses its power to jump out of the boiling pot.
Our mission is to find pathways to repair lysosomal injuries, maintain homeostasis, and restore communication between lysosomes and mitochondria, to ensure they can protect the heart cells before irreversible damage occurs.
A frog in nature, representing the boiling frog metaphor.Image by Miho Takahashi
Our customized "Boiling Frog" ceramic artwork in the laboratory.Artwork by @dankoartworks