Biological and Biomedical Science
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Zoltan P. Arany

Department of Medicine

Cardiovascular Institute
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Center for Life Sciences Building, Room 906
3 Blackfan Circle
Boston. MA 02115
Tel: (617) 735-4252
Fax: (617) 735-4207
Email: zarany@bidmc.harvard.edu

Web Page: The Arany Lab Page

The lab is interested in the gene regulatory pathways that control cardiovascular metabolism. The heart and skeletal muscle are highly metabolically active tissues, and their rates of energy consumption, choice of substrates, and method of catabolism can vary widely. Aberrant generation or use of energy in these tissues leads to a great number of diseases, including diabetes, myopathy, and heart failure.

Our lab has focused on a small family of transcriptional regulators, the PGC-1 co-activators, which powerfully control numerous metabolic programs in different tissues, including the robust activation of mitochondrial biogenesis and function.  Recently, we demonstrated that PGC-1 also regulates angiogenesis, thereby co-regulating neo-vascularization (oxygen delivery) with mitochondrial activity (oxygen consumption).  We are taking multidisciplinary approaches, ranging from molecular biology and high-throughput genomics to cell biology and mouse physiology, to understanding how PGC-1s and other genetic regulators integrate metabolic homeostasis with vascular homeostasis in key metabolic tissues like heart and skeletal muscle.

 

 

References:

  • Arany, Z., H. He, J. Lin, K. Hoyer, C. Handschin, O. Toka, F. Ahmad, T. Matsui, S. Chin, P.-H. Wu, I. I. Rybkin, J. M. Shelton, M. Manieri, S. Cinti, F. J. Schoen, R. Bassel-Duby, A. Rosenzweig, J. S. Ingwall, and B. M. Spiegelman (2005)  “Transcriptional coactivator PGC-1a controls the energy state and contractile function of cardiac muscle”.  Cell Metabolism, 1: 259-271.

  • Arany, Z., M. Novikov, S. Chin, Y. Ma, A. Rosenzweig, and B. M. Spiegelman (2006)  “Transverse aortic constriction leads to accelerated heart failure in mice lacking PGC-1α”.  PNAS, 103:10086-89.

  • Arany, Z.*, S.-Y. Foo, Y. Ma, J. Ruas, A. Bommi-Reddy, G. Girnun, M. Cooper, D. Laznik, J. Chinsomboon, S. Rangwala, K. H. Baek, A. Rosenzweig, and B.M. Spiegelman*.  (2008) “HIF-independent regulation of VEGF and angiogenesis by the transcriptional coactivator PGC-1α.”  Nature. 451: 1008-13.

  • Arany Z.  PGC-1 Coactivators and Skeletal Muscle Adaptations in Health and Disease.  Current Opinions in Genetics and Development.  2008.  18: 426-34.