Sanjeev S. Ranade studies how transcription factors specifically control the development and function of cardiac cells — and what happens when things go wrong.
Transcription factors (TF) are proteins that initiate and regulate the transcription of genes, essentially turning genes on and off, boosting or repressing their activity. At last count, there were over 1,500 known TFs, but the contribution of most of the TFs to life and health is unknown.
In particular, Ranade focuses on how disrupted cell-to-cell signaling caused by mutations in TFs can cause congenital heart defects or CHDs.
“My research is focused on understanding why young children are born with heart defects. What are the principles and rules that allow our hearts to develop in the first place and why do these rules get broken in some cases? This is really important because nearly 1 in 100 children are born with some form of heart defect and many of these children will suffer from heart disease at much earlier stages in life compared to the general population.”
For his doctorate in molecular biology at Scripps Research in San Diego, Ranade studied ion channels — proteins that span cell membranes, allowing passage of ions or charged molecules from one side of the membrane to the other. The channels serve many critical functions, including transmitting signals involved in cell-cell communications and muscle contraction.
Working as a post-doctoral fellow and staff research scientist in the lab of Deepak Srivastava, M.D. at Gladstone Institutes, Ranade looked at how genetics and cell biology were connected and how disruptions to these connections led to children with heart defects.