The long-term goal of my laboratory is to advance our understanding of the transcriptional controls that guide cardiovascular differentiation / development and maintenance of normal cardiac function.
The focus of our current research is to identify novel cellular and molecular mechanisms that lead to normal cardiac morphogenesis and function. For this, we are investigating molecular mechanisms that regulate cardiac-specific gene expression in vitro and role of transcription factors in cardiovascular development in vivo by generating transgenic mice. For example, we are studying molecular functions of the cardiac-restricted homeobox protein Nkx2.5, zinc finger protein GATA4, muscle-specific factor MEF2, and the nuclear factor Jumonji in regulating target genes and guiding normal cardiovascular development.

Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent cells. One goal of stem cell research is the development of specialized cells such as heart muscle cells. The directed differentiation of embryonic stem cells is then vital to the ultimate use of such cells in the development of new therapies. We are currently developing methods to isolate and enrich embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes.

Recent Publications

Kim, K.-H., Antkiewicz, D.S., Yan, L., Eliceiri, K.W., Heideman, W., Peterson, R.E., and Lee, Y. Lrrc10 is required for early heart development and function in zebrafish. Developmental Biology, In Press. Available on line, 2007.

Kim, K.-H., Kim T.-G., Micales, B., Lyons, G.E., and Lee, Y. Dynamic expression patterns of Leucine Rich Repeat Containing Protein 10 in the heart. Developmental Dynamics, 236:2225-2234, 2007.

Wozniak R.J., Boyer, M.E., Grass, J.A., Lee, Y., and Bresnick, E.H. Context-dependent GATA factor function: Combinatorial requirements for transcriptional control in hematopoietic and endothelial cells. J of Biological Chemistry, 282(19):14665-74, 2007.

Mysliwiec, M.R., Kim, T.-G., and Lee, Y. Characterization of Zinc Finger Protein 496 that interacts with Jumonji/jarid2. FEBS Letters, 581(14):2633-2640, 2007.

Mysliwiec, M.R., Chen, J., Powers, P.A., Bartley, C.R., Schneider, M.D., and Lee, Y. Generation of a Conditional Null Allele of Jumonji. Genesis, 44(9):407-411, 2006.

Kim, T.-G., Jung, J., Mysliwiec, M.R., and Kang, S., and Lee, Y. JUMONJI represses a-cardiac myosin heavy chain expression via inhibiting MEF2 activity. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 329:544-553, 2005.

Jung, J., Kim, T.-G., Lyons, G.E., Kim, H.R.C., and Lee, Y. Jumonji regulates cardiomyocyte proliferation via interaction with retinoblastoma protein. J. Biological Chemistry, 280:30916-30923, 2005.

Jung, J., Mysliwiec, M.R., and Lee, Y. The roles of JUMONJI in mouse embryonic development. Developmental Dynamics, 232:21-32, 2005.

Kim, T.-G., Chen, J., Sadoshima, J., and Lee, Y. JUMONJI represses atrial natriuretic factor gene expression by inhibiting transcriptional activities of cardiac transcription factor. Molecular Cellular Biology, 24:10151-10160, 2004.

He, J.-Q, Ma, Y., Lee, Y., Thomson, J.A., and Kamp, T.J. Human embryonic stem cells develop into multiple types of cardiac myocytes. Circulation Research. 93:32-39, 2003. (an editorial article on this paper)

Kim, T.-G., Kraus, J.C., Chen, J., and Lee, Y. JUMONJI, a critical factor for cardiac development, functions as a transcriptional repressor. J. Biological Chemistry, 278:42247-42255, 2003.

Morisco, C., Seta, K., Hardt, S. E., Lee, Y., Vatner, S.F., and Sadoshima, J. Glycogen synthase 3 beta regulates GATA4 in cardiac myocytes. J. Biological Chemistry, 276:28586-28597, 2001.

Lee, Y., Song, A.J., Baker, R.K., Micales, B.K., Conway, S.J., and Lyons, G.E. Jumonji, a nuclear protein that is necessary for normal heart development. Circulation Research, 86:932-938, 2000. (an editorial on this paper and cover photo of my figure)