CVRI Scientists

Benoit G Bruneau,
Associate Professor

Research Interests:
Heart development, congenital heart disease, chromatin, embryogenesis, transcription

Summary:
Our lab studies how genes are turned on in the heart, and the proteins that control these genetic switches. These proteins are called transcription factors, and many of them have been found to be mutated in human congenital heart disease. So these studies have helped understand how congenital heart defects happen. We are also interested in how transcription factors turn on heart genes, and from these studies we have identified new proteins, called chromatin remodeling factors, that help turn on heart genes. Using this knowledge, we are beginning to understand how to make new heart cells, which could in the future be useful for cardiac regeneration.