Ongoing studies have clinical applications in cardiovascular, inflammatory, metabolic and skeletal muscle disease. Work performed by the Center laboratories includes (i) state-of-the-art genomic approaches (e.g. ChIP-seq, RNA-seq, RNAi), (ii) generation and analysis of invertebrate (Drosophila) and vertebrate animal models of human diseases, (iii) structure-function studies on a wide variety of pharmacological targets (receptors, channels, enzymes) and (iv) development of novel tools enabling peptide and small molecule drug discovery. The wide array of research capabilities featured by the Center laboratories naturally extends beyond the boundaries of one organ system or pathway offering the unique ability to understand many complex and/or inherited chronic diseases.
The Center Investigators hold faculty positions in the Tufts University School of Medicine graduate programs and regularly mentor Masters, PhD-level thesis students and Post-Doctoral Fellows in Pharmacology, Genetics, Clinical Translational Sciences and Cell, Molecular and Developmental Biology.
The primary goal of this laboratory is to make discoveries relevant to human diseases for the purpose of understanding the biology of human development and disease that in addition to providing greater insight into mechanisms of disease may also translate to improved diagnostics and therapies. We seek to make our primary discoveries by studying human DNA and/or tissues. Genes or pathways identified through discovery work based on human samples then serve as the basis for traditional hypothesis-oriented research in animal and cellular model systems employed by my laboratory.
Center for Translational Pharmacology + Genomics labs
Draper Laboratory
Isabelle Draper, PhD
Research Interests: RNA splicing, Muscular Dystrophy
Email: Isabelle.Draper@tuftsmedicine.org
Huggins Laboratory
Gordon Huggins, MD
Research Interests: Genetics, Cardiomyopathy, Heart Failure, Valve Disease, Atherosclerosis
Email: Gordon.Huggins@tuftsmedicine.org
Pulakat Laboratory
Lakshmi Pulakat, PhD
Impact of Obesity and Diabetes on the heart, Wound Healing, Sex Differences in Cardiovascular Disease, Angiotensin Type 2 Receptors, G protein-coupled Receptors, Drug Development
Email: Lakshmi.Pulakat@tuftsmedicine.org