Rebekah L. Gundry, PhD, FHA

Assistant Chief for Basic and Translational Research
Professor and Vice-Chair Director, CardiOmics Program

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The Gundry laboratory makes discoveries of the human heart – transforming our understanding of what molecules are present in the human heart and how they change in disease. This new insight fuels our understanding of disease processes and reveals untapped therapeutic targets. The lab is also developing new tools and reagents to promote the use of stem cell technologies for improved drug testing and disease modeling.   

To achieve its goals, they develop and apply innovative mass spectrometry (MS) technologies, bioinformatics tools, and methodologies to transform our understanding of cell surface glycoproteins and glycans and answer outstanding questions in stem cell biology and cardiac pathology & disease. They focus on the subset of molecules localized to the cell surface (i.e. the surfaceome), including transmembrane, GPI-anchored, and ECM proteins and glycans because these can be optimally exploited for immunophenotyping, drug targeting, and are critical players in normal cardiac function and disease.

Its platforms specifically promote the development of new reagents and strategies to:
  1) promote the discovery of therapeutic and monitoring strategies for advanced heart failure.
  2) improve the quality and homogeneity of stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes for research and clinical applications

Working at the interface of analytical chemistry, stem cell biology and cardiac physiology, the major tools in our toolbox include protein biochemistry, mass spectrometry, proteomics, metabolomics, glycoproteomics, glycomics, chromatography, immunofluorescence imaging, flow cytometry, and state-of-the art stem cell culturing and differentiation methods.