The Ank Nijhawan research team is focused on improving outcomes for people living with or at risk for HIV, and ensuring their access to comprehensive healthcare and social support services. We also focus on individuals involved in the criminal legal system, and specifically the overlap of infectious diseases such as HIV, hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections and substance use.

The Tong lab studies the cellular and molecular mechanisms of cardiovascular diseases associated with systemic metabolic disorders, particularly heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and atrial fibrillation (AF), with an eye toward translating these findings into innovative solutions to clinical problems.

Kong lab aims to harness the cutting-edge technologies in human genetics and genomics, immunology, and molecular biology to better understand the pathogenesis of gastrointestinal inflammation.

The discovery of ANP many years ago sparked interest in the use of natriuretic peptides to diagnose and treat heart failure and other salt-retaining disorders. Since then, there have been successes and failures. A more comprehensive understanding of the natriuretic peptide system, including the role of noncardiac factors such as race/ethnicity, may encourage more targeted approaches. One of the original insights of de Bold et al, was that the heart is an endocrine organ. Endocrine therapies are administered to individuals with specific evidence of endocrine dysfunction, not to capture short-term beneficial effects. For instance, thyroid hormone is given only to patients in whom hypothyroidism is demonstrated, not based on its metabolic actions. Studies are warranted to determine whether a similar strategy for the heart’s endocrine system can advance the prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic disease. CMRU is strategically positioned to advance research toward this important strategic goal. 

Zaman’s Lab focuses on the design and development of novel cutting-edge multi-mode imaging systems to overcome current limitations in clinical systems. Most recent research project is involved with the design and developed of a multimode catheter-based imaging system called a Circumferential Intravascular Radioluminescence Photoacoustic Imaging (CIRPI) for early detection of thin-cap-fibro-atheroma (TCFA), the underlying causes of coronary artery disease, one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the USA and worldwide. Further, the CIRPI system characterizes the plaques based on disease tissue compositions to unravel their complex structures. This CIRPI system integrates optical, photoacoustic, radioluminescence and ultrasound imaging. We seek to better understand the underlying causes of the disease mechanisms. We are dissecting the role of TCFA perturbations on vascular wall processes during atherosclerosis progression. Our lab also studying novel molecular imaging methods to study coronary arterial disease, carotid stenosis, and myocardial ischemia in subcellular level.

Translational biophotonics for noninvasive detection of systemic disease.

The Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine is a 40,000 square-foot research facility with 12 UTSW faculty working in multiple departments and divisions (Internal Medicine/Cardiology/Pulmonary, Neurology, PM&R, Anesthesiology, Applied Physiology) with up to 20 postdocs, and 40 staff on 70 active protocols and 15 federal grants. It is a research enterprise devoted to the study of human physiology and the limits to human functional capacity in health and disease. 

We investigate the neuro-hormonal basis for complex eating behaviors and blood glucose control, with the ultimate goal of designing new methods to prevent and treat extremes of body weight, blood glucose, and associated disorders of mood and metabolism.

Our lab is interested in understanding the relationship between injury, regeneration, and cancer. We are focused on identifying the genes and mechanisms that regulate regenerative capacity in the liver and understanding how these contribute to hepatocellular carcinoma development.

We are interested in how metabolism regulates various behaviors. We use two invertebrate model systems of C. elegans and D. melanogaster, ultimately aiming to unveil conserved neuro-molecular mechanisms throughout animals including mammals.