JOSHUA WARREN

Arizona State University, BS Jwarren2@arizona.edu

Joshua Warren is a post-bacc student who recently graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Science in Medical Studies. There, he tutored and led review sessions for science courses, and as a TA for Anatomy and Physiology, taught laboratory sections. He is a first-generation college graduate and Chief Manuelito scholar. Joshua’s family is from Hunters Point, Arizona on the Navajo reservation. With the experience of growing up both in the Phoenix metro area and the Navajo Nation, Joshua’s goal is to attend medical school and provide care to urban Native American populations through the Indian Health Services. In his free time, he likes to read, draw, and explore new cuisines with friends.

⊲ PROJECT

SGK1 is a Key Mediator of Pathological Cardiac Fibrosis

Pathological cardiac fibrosis, as arises from prolonged cardiac stress, can ultimately result in heart failure or cardiac arrest. The cell type that initially responds to this stress or injury is the cardiac fibroblast, which responds adaptively by proliferating and differentiating into myofibroblasts in an attempt to maintain cardiac structure and function. Thus, major interest is placed in identifying novel therapeutic targets to alter fibroblast differentiation and sustained activation. We recently identified the cytosolic protein kinase, serum/glucocorticoid regulated kinase 1 (SGK1), as being largely involved which pathological remodeling in the cardiac myocyte via escaping proteasome-mediated degradation. While there have been reports that SGK1 may also play role in cardiac fibrosis, the mechanistic role for SGK1 in cardiac fibroblasts in response to injury remains unknown.

ERIK BLACKWOOD PhD

Research Assistant Professor, College of Medicine-Phoenix Eablackwood@arizona.edu

Erik Blackwood is the Senior Postdoctoral Fellow in Dr. Chris Glembotski’s lab at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix. Erik was recruited to UA-COMP as a Faculty-in-Training and the Logistics Director for the Translational Cardiovascular Research Center of which Dr. Glembotski is the inaugural director. Erik completed his Ph.D. in the Cell and Molecular Biology Joint Doctoral Program between San Diego State University and UC San Diego where his research broadly concerned molecular cardiology focusing on the cardiac structure and function in the ischemic, hypertrophic, and failing heart, in vivo. He led a team at the SDSU Heart Institute that was focused on developing novel proteotoxic-based therapeutics for ischemic heart disease and hypertensive stress. More recently, Erik’s research has progressed into the development of novel large animal models of heart failure with either reduced or preserved ejection fraction and the efficacy testing of many of the lead candidate small molecule therapies in these swine models. His recruitment to UA-COMP has served to reinvigorate the lab’s interests in these therapies in the setting of neurodegenerative diseases and, appropriately enough, many national leaders in preclinical and clinical Alzheimer’s disease research reside right here in Arizona.