Zhiqiang Lin, Ph.D.: Hippo-Yap Pathway in Cardiac Repair

Heart failure is the leading cause of death worldwide, and its incidence is only increasing. A major roadblock to improving treatment is the limited proliferative capacity of the mature mammalian cardiomyocyte (CM). Recently, data from our lab and other peer labs showed that Hippo-Yap
pathway plays crucial roles in cardiac development and cardiac repair. YAP, TEAD1 and VGLL4 are three crucial components of this pathway. Exploiting the underlying mechanism of how these three factors regulate heart growth will shed light on the cardiac regeneration drug discovery process.