Contact Information

Office: 1191D ML
Phone: 319-384-8756
Faculty Profile

Brief description of current research:

Dr. Ahmad is the Director of the Cardiovascular Genetics Program at the University of Iowa, which brings together basic scientists at the Carver College of Medicine and clinicians at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) who are focusing on heritable cardiovascular disorders. He directs a laboratory conducting basic and translational research into the genetic and genomic mechanisms underlying cardiovascular disorders, including glycogen storage cardiomyopathy and diabetic cardiomyopathy. Recent accomplishments in his laboratory include (1) uncovering the mechanisms by which mutations in PRKAG2, the gene encoding a cardiomyocyte-specific subunit of AMPK, lead to glycogen storage cardiomyopathy; (2) discovering a novel sodium-glucose cotransporter, SGLT1; and (3) identifying a role for SGLT1 in diabetic cardiomyopathy and ischemic heart failure. His laboratory uses a wide range of techniques in human, mouse, and pig genetics and genomics, and fosters crosstalk between clinical studies, human molecular genetic studies, small and large animal modeling, basic cellular and molecular studies, and computational systems biology analyses.

3 most influential diabetes/obesity/metabolism publications:

• Banerjee SK, McGaffin KR, Pastor-Soler NM, Ahmad F.  SGLT1 is a novel cardiac glucose transporter that is perturbed in disease states.  Cardiovasc Res 2009;84:111-118. PMCID: PMC2741348.
• Banerjee SK, Wang DW, Alzamora R, Huang XN, Pastor-Soler NM, Hallows KR, McGaffin KR, Ahmad F. SGLT1, a novel cardiac glucose transporter, mediates increased glucose uptake in PRKAG2 cardiomyopathy.  J Mol Cell Cardiol 2010;49:683-692. PMCID: PMC2932762.
• Ramratnam M, Sharma RK, D’Auria S, Lee SJ, Wang D, Huang XY, Ahmad F.  Transgenic knockdown of cardiac sodium/glucose cotransporter 1 (SGLT1) attenuates PRKAG2 cardiomyopathy, whereas transgenic overexpression of cardiac SGLT1 causes pathologic hypertrophy and dysfunction in mice.  J Am Heart Assoc 2014;3:e000899. PMCID: PMC4310371.

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Our mission is to advance the frontiers of knowledge in cardiovascular genetics, thereby facilitating state-of-the art care to patients with cardiovascular disorders and empowering families to make informed choices.