Lab Website: https://thiel.lab.uiowa.edu/

Understanding mechanisms of cardiovascular disease using cell-targeting ligands (aptamers)

My laboratory strives to decipher the mechanisms of cardiovascular disease development and progression using cell-targeting RNA aptamers and to develop novel treatments with these reagents. We are currently focused on three areas of interest. First, we are using vascular smooth muscle-specific aptamers to understand the complex mechanisms of neointimal formation after vascular injury and using the VSMC-specific aptamers to deliver therapeutic siRNAs. Second, we are developing cardiac-specific aptamers to study the mechanisms of targeting cardiomyocytes and treating cardiovascular disease. Finally, we are developing novel aptamer bioinformatics algorithms and methods to support aptamer discovery and target discovery. To support these projects, we use a combination of ex vivo and in vivo models of cardiovascular disease and cell-based assays with an emphasis on cutting-edge technology such as human-derived iPSC cardiomyocytes, light-sheet microscopy, CRISPR-Cas9 viral libraries and various high-throughput assays.

PubMed link

Department/Program Affiliations:
Francois M. Abboud Cardiovascular Research Center
Internal Medicine