Hamilton Laboratory

Laboratory of
Shanna Hamilton

Abnormal intracellular calcium handling is implicated in many cardiovascular diseases and can lead to arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. Our overarching goal is to decipher molecular mechanisms of calcium regulation in the healthy and diseased heart, with the end goal of uncovering novel therapeutic strategies to treat arrhythmias and heart disease. Current research interests include regulation of intracellular calcium handling in cardiac myocytes by endoplasmic reticulum stress and mitochondrial signaling pathways.

To study these pathways, my laboratory uses a comprehensive experimental approach from molecule-cell-organ-organism. We use mouse and rat models of both inherited (catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia, long QT syndrome) and acquired (hypertrophy, heart failure, aging, diabetes, atrial fibrillation) cardiac disease. Methods we use include molecular biology, high-resolution confocal microscopy and live cell imaging, electrophysiology, whole heart optical mapping and in vivo gene editing.

Lab Members