Principal Investigator
D. Brian Foster Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology
Director, Laboratory of Cardiovascular Biochemistry
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
dbrianfoster@jhmi.edu
Brian hails from Canada, born in Québec City, Québec (Oui, c’est vrai!). He graduated from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, with a Ph.D. in biochemistry. There, he studied both smooth muscle and cardiac muscle contractile proteins, caldesmon and troponin I respectively, in the Laboratory of Dr. Jennifer Van Eyk. He moved to Boston where he received an American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship to examine the conformation of these proteins on thin filaments by electron microscopy and 3D image reconstruction, under mentors Dr. William Lehman of the Boston University School of Medicine and Dr. Albert Wang, formerly of the Boston Biomedical Research Institute. Brian came to The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Division of Cardiology to apply his training in biochemistry to some of the big issues in heart disease under mentors Dr. Eduardo Marbán and Dr. Brian O’Rourke.
Brian heads the Laboratory of Cardiovascular Biochemistrstry that employs a systems biology approach that encompassing the tools of proteomics, metabolomics, and molecular cardiology to investigate the mechanisms underlying heart failure progression.
Current Lab Members
Postdoctoral Fellow
Kyriakos@jhmi.edu
Kyriakos, a native of beautiful sunny Cyprus, also comes to Hopkins by way of Boston, where he trained in the lab of Dr. Kenneth Walsh, Director of the Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute of the Boston University School of Medicine. His doctoral thesis examined the role of heart mitochondrial membrane proteins called mitofusins, particularly with respect to their influence on the mitochondrial permeability transition that marks the onset of cell death by necrosis. He also showed that mitofusins 1 and 2 are essential for postnatal metabolic remodeling in the heart. We are happy to have him on board.
Undergraduate Researcher
Lauren is a rising junior studying Molecular and Cellular Biology at the Johns Hopkins undergraduate campus, where she is also a Woodrow Wilson Research Fellow. Originally from Richmond, VA, she has always had a strong interest in science and medicine and has enjoyed studying retinoid signaling in heart failure. When she’s not in the lab, she spends much of her time training as a member of the Johns Hopkins University Varsity Swim Team in continuation of her 16 year-long swimming career.
Alumni Lab Members
| Trainee | Lab Position | Years | Present Occupation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jasma Rucker B.S. | Research Specialist | 2004-2015 | Registered Nurse, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD |
| Ni Yang, M.D. | Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow | 2015-2016 | Attending Physician, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China |
| Yuejin Li M.D., Ph.D. | Postdoctoral Fellow | 2012-2016 | Assistant Professor of Biology, Morgan State University |
| Paul Wijnker, Ph.D. | Visiting Graduate Student | 2011 | Postdoctoral Fellow, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Anthony Nastasi | Undergraduate Researcher | 2013 | Stanford Medical School, Stanford, CA |
| Andrew Hwang | Undergraduate Researcher | 2014-2015 | JHU Graduate |
| Nicita Mehta | Undergraduate Researcher | 2015-2016 | JHU Graduate |
| Charles Crepy D’Orleans | Undergraduate Researcher | 2017-2018 | Life sciences consulting at Insight Strategy Advisors, New York, NY. |
| Aisha Frazier M.D. | Fellows Research Rotation | 2010-2011 | Pediatric Cardiologist, Jefferson University Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, Wilmington, DE. |
| Yusufu Kamara, B.S. | Post-Baccalaureate Training | 2011-2012 | Physician, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA |
