Clinician Investigator, Other Nephrology, Mass General Research Institute

Physician Nephrology, Massachusetts General Hospital

MD Harvard Medical School 1995

PhD 1993

antimicrobial cationic peptides; bone morphogenetic protein 6; bone morphogenetic protein receptors; bone morphogenetic proteins; chronic kidney disease; gpi-linked proteins; hemochromatosis; hemojuvelin; iron; iron metabolism; neural cell adhesion molecules; receptors transforming growth factor beta; renal insufficiency chronic; tgf-b signaling receptors; transforming growth factor beta

The overall theme of my laboratory is to understand the role of the TGF-β/BMP signaling pathways in health and disease. My laboratory has currently three major areas of interest:

1) Understanding the role of the RGM/DRAGON family of BMP co-receptors in the regulation of BMP signaling;
2) Determining the specific role of hemojuvelin (HJV) in the regulation of hepcidin expression and iron metabolism;
3) Study of TGF-β/BMP ligands interaction with receptors using biochemical and cell biology techniques.

Ultimately, by studying this complex but important signaling system, we aim to generate new knowledge that will lead to novel therapeutic options for chronic diseases such as chronic kidney disease, hemochromatosis and anemia of chronic disease.