John Kamau

Course taught: BIO1120 labs

I am a second-year BMS-PhD student in Dr. Ren's laboratory working on the effects of lipin1 protein (which is encoded by the LPIN1 gene) in the heart. My research goal is to identify if there is any correlation between lipin1 deficiency and the myocardium damage/ cell death. We are also looking at the effects of overexpressing lipin1 protein in the DMD^mdx mutant mice, would result in the reduction of cardiac muscles (myocardium) damage. By doing this, we would like to see if overexpressing lipin1 would result in the stabilization of the plasma membrane around the cardiac muscles (myocardium) hence less muscle damage. This research will significantly impact human health by reversing the effect of muscle death in a Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patient from heart failure.