Areas of Research

Metabolomic Analysis of Atherothrombosis

Acute myocardial infarction (MI) remains a leading cause of death worldwide. It is most commonly caused by thrombi overlying disrupted atherosclerotic plaques.

However, while plaque disruption often precipitates thrombosis, autopsy studies have shown that plaque rupture alone is not sufficient to cause an occlusive coronary thrombus resulting in acute MI. As many as 79% of plaque ruptures do not result in occlusive coronary thrombosis.

Determining the factor(s) that "drive" a pathological, as opposed to a homeostatic or subclinical, response to plaque disruption is the essence of my work.

My laboratory has created a unique cohort of thrombotic and non-thrombotic MI from which we identified metabolites that are significantly different at the time of acute thrombotic MI relative to the quiescent stable state within subjects and distinct from any change observed in non-thrombotic MI and stable coronary artery disease (CAD) patients over the same time course. Defining the "drivers" of thrombotic MI will be of diagnostic, prognostic, therapeutic and preventative value.