Francisco Alvarado
Credentials: Medicine and Cardiovascular Medicine
Position title: Regulation of cardiac ion channels and calcium signaling; cellular and molecular mechanisms of arrhythmias and heart failure.
Email: falvarad@medicine.wisc.edu
Phone: 608-262-6659
Address:
8555 WIMR II
1111 Highland Avenue
Madison, WI 53706
LAB WEBSITE
FOCUS GROUPS:
Membrane Biology & Protein Trafficking, Physiology
RESEARCH DESCRIPTION:
The long-term goal of the Alvarado Lab is to is to understand the mechanisms of heart disease and to develop safe and effective treatments that improve the life of patients. Our primary interest is the regulation of cardiac ion channels with emphasis on diseases arising from their dysfunction, especially calcium-dependent arrhythmias and structural cardiomyopathies. Calcium is required for heart function in a process called excitation-contraction coupling; yet, dysregulation of calcium homeostasis is known to participate in heart disease. We apply state-of-the art imaging, electrophysiology and cell biology tools to understand how mutations affecting proteins involved in excitation-contraction coupling, such as ryanodine receptor 2, the major intracellular calcium channel in the heart, participate in the development of disease and, therefore, can be targets for drug development.