Welcome to the Lopes Lab
We study the regulation of ion channels by diverse G-protein signaling pathways in normal and pathological states.
One major focus of our current work is the changes in function and regulation of cardiac ion channels that cause the most common form of inherited cardiac arrhythmia, Long QT syndrome. Our work translates channel dysfunction and dysregulation at the cellular level to clinical phenotype and patient’s response to treatment.
A second focus of our current research is the study of pathological remodeling of the slow delayed rectifier-like current (IKs) in heart failure. Our current research focus on stress signals caused by chronic stimulation of kinase signaling pathways, and their consequence for ion channel function and membrane trafficking. We explore novel antiarrhythmic treatments to reverse IKs pathological remodeling during heart failure.