Christopher Charles Glembotski

Dr. Glembotski's research career began when he earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of CA at Los Angeles. His research concerns heart disease, with an overall goal of developing better treatments and cures for the disease that affects more people than any other. The focus of Dr. Glembotski's research program is to learn how the heart functions when it is healthy, discover the molecular basis or causes of pathology in the heart, and then to repair those molecular causes using gene and stem cell therapy approaches, as well as new drug development. Pathologies of the heart, including myocardial infarction (heart attack) and genetically linked impairment of cardiac function, are particularly devastating because the heart cannot heal itself, or regenerate like some other organs do. The result of a loss of heart function in such diseases is an eventual decline of the heart's ability to pump blood, a pathology we call heart failure. So, one of the goals of Dr. Glembotski's research is to improve or emend biochemical pathways in cardiac myocytes so that the loss of functional heart tissue that results from a heart attack is reduced, thus reducing the prevalence of heart failure. This would result in fewer deaths from heart disease, as well as improved quality of life for those afflicted with the disease. Given the population increase taking place in Arizona, and especially considering that many of our citizens are of advanced age, which is just when the natural defense mechanisms of the heart decline, research done in the Glembotski lab has broad and deep implications for improving healthcare in Arizona.