Dr. Cai
Chuanxi Cai, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Tel: 502-852-8431
Email: c.cai@louisville.edu
Education/Training:
Ph.D.: 1998-2004, Institute of Biophysics in Chinese Academy of Sciences
Postdoctoral Fellow: 2004-2009, Physiology and Biophysics in UMDNJ
AHA Postdoctoral Fellowship: 2008-2009, Physiology and Biophysics in UMDNJ
Assistant Professor: 2009-present, University of Louisville School of Medicine
Research Interests:
Ischemic heart disease remains as the single largest cause of mortality in western countries. A major challenge in the field of molecular cardiology is developing novel therapeutic approaches to prevent injury and to facilitate recovery of cells that are constantly undergoing physiological stress. My long term research interests are to understand the molecular and cellular mechanism for myocardial repair and regeneration during acute myocardial infarction, and to develop cellular or genetic therapeutic approaches for preventing myocardial injury, promoting the regeneration following cardiac muscle damage, and treatment for patients with ischemic heart disease. Specifically, the current projects in my laboratory include the use of adult stem/progenitor cells, and inducible pluripotent stem cells for myocardial repair on the therapeutic applications of cell-based therapies in cardiovascular diseases. To achieve our goals, we will use multidisciplinary approaches that include biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, and genetic analysis through the modulation of mouse models.
Selected Publications:
1. Cai, C., Masumiya, H., Weisleder, Matsuda, N., Nishi, M., Hwang, M., Ko, J., Lin, P., Thornton, A., Zhao, X., Pan, Z., Brotto, M., Komazaki, S., Takeshima, H. and Ma, J. MG53 nucleates assembly of membrane repair machinery. Nat Cell Biol. 2009 Jan; 11(1):56-64. (Original Article)
2. Cai, C., Weisleder, N., Ko, J., Komazaki, S., Sunada, Y., Nishi, M., Takeshima, H. and Ma, J. (2009) Membrane repair defects in muscular dystrophy are linked to altered interaction between MG53, caveolin-3 and dysferlin. J Biol Chem. 2009 Jun 5; 284 (23):15894-902. (Selected as a Paper of Week)
3. Cai, C., Masumiya, H., Weisleder, N., Pan, Z., Nishi, M., Komazaki, S., Takeshima, H., Ma, J. MG53 regulates membrane budding and exocytosis in muscle cells. J Biol Chem. 2009 Jan 30; 284(5):3314-22.
4. Cai, C., Lin, P., Cheung, KH., Li, N., Levchook, C., Pan, Z., Ferrante, C., Boulianne, GL., Foskett, J.K., Danielpour, D., Ma, J. The presenilin-2 loop peptide perturbs intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis and accelerates apoptosis. J Biol Chem. 2006 Jun 16; 281(24):16649-55.
5. Cai, C., Chen. J. Overexpression of caveolin-1 induces alteration of multidrug resistance in Hs578T breast adenocarcinoma cells. Int J Cancer. 2004 Sep 10; 111(4):522-9.
