Department of Medicine
Faculty Profiles by Division

Division of Cardiology

Faculty Profiles

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photo Haodi Wu, PhD

Cardiology

Assistant Professor of Medicine

Vascular Medicine Institute

Division of Cardiology

Email: haodi@pitt.edu

Phone: 412-383-1088

Contact
Office: BST E1256
200 Lothrop Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15261
 
Phone: 412-383-1088
Fax:
E-mail: haodi@pitt.edu
Education and Training
Education
PhD, Peking University
Training
Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University
Instructor, Stanford University
Research Interest
Heart diseases remain the leading cause of death for men, women, and people of most racial and ethnic groups worldwide. The top risk factors for heart disease include familial history (genetic mutations), aging, unhealthy lifestyle (smoking, alcohol addition, high fat diet etc.), obesity, etc. However, the studies of the pathological mechanisms of these risk factors in the human heart was greatly humbled by the lack of standardized research models, as human cardiac cells are limited resources, and genetically modified animals show significant species variations. As a result of our incomplete understanding of pathological mechanisms, the current treatment of heart disease mostly focuses on relieving symptoms, rather than targeting the underlying molecular basis.

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have provided us an exceptional research platform for the mechanistic studies of cardiac diseases in human originated cardiac cells. The researches at Wu lab take advantage of modern stem cell, physiology, genome-editing, and omics technologies to 1) Dissect the molecular mechanisms of inherited dilated and hypertrophic cardiomyopathies; 2) Understand the molecular mechanism of aging in heart cells; 3) Study how environmental risk factors contribute to the remodeling of cardiomyocyte. The long-term goal of our research is to gain a deep mechanistic understanding of the pathogenesis in diseased cardiac cells, and to develop novel molecular tools and compounds to rectify the regulation during the process.
Publications
For my complete bibliography, Click Here.
Selected Publications:
Lee J, Termglinchan V, Diecke S, Itzhaki I, Lam CK, Garg P, Lau E, Greenhaw M, Seeger T, Wu H, Zhang JZ, Chen X, Gil IP, Ameen M, Sallam K, Rhee JW, Snyder MP, Chang HY, Karakikes I, Wu JC. Activation of PDGF pathway links LMNA mutation to dilated cardiomyopathy. Nature. 2019; 572(7769): 335-340.
Wu H, Yang H, Rhee JW, Zhang J, Lam CK, Sallam K, Chang AC, Ma N, Lee J, Zhang H, Balu H, Bers D, Wu JC. Modeling of diastolic dysfunction in induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy patients. European Heart Journal. 2019; 40(45): 3685-3695.
Liang, P*, Sallam, K*, Wu, H*, Li Y, Itzhaki I, Garg P, Zhang Y, Vermglinchan V, Lan F, Gu M, Gong T, Zhuge Y, He C, Ebert AD, Sanchez-Freire V, Churko J, Hu S, Sharma A, Bers DM, Wu JC. Patient-Specific and Genome-Edited Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell–Derived Cardiomyocytes Elucidate Single-Cell Phenotype of Brugada Syndrome. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2016; 68(19): 2086-2096.
Davis J, Davis LC, Correll RN, Makarewich CA, Schwanekamp JA, Moussavi-Harami F, Wang D, York AJ, Wu H, Houser SR, Seidman CE, Seidman JG, Regnier M, Metzger JM, Wu JC, Molkentin JD. A tension-based model distinguishes hypertrophic versus dilated cardiomyopathy. Cell. 2016; 165(5): 1147-1159.
Burridge PW, Li YF, Matsa E, Wu H, Ong SG, Sharma A, Holmström A, Chang AC, Coronado MJ, Ebert AD, Knowles JW, Telli ML, Witteles RM, Blau HM, Bernstein D, Altman RB, Wu JC. Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell–derived Cardiomyocytes Recapitulate the Predilection of Breast Cancer Patients to Doxorubicin-induced Cardiotoxicity. Nature Medicine. 2016; 22(5): 547-556.
Wu H, Lee J, Vincent LG, Wang Q,, Gu M, Lan F, Churko JM, Sallam KI, Matsa E, Sharma A, Gold JD, Engler AJ, Xiang YK, Bers DM, Wu JC. Epigenetic Regulation of PDE2A/3A Underlies Compromised ß-Adrenergic Signaling in an iPSC Model of Dilated Cardiomyopathy. Cell Stem Cell. 2015; 17(1): 89-100.
Wang Y*, Liang P*, Lan F*, Wu H*, Lisowski L, Gu M, Hu S, Kay MA, Urnov FD, Shinnawi R, Gold JD, Gepstein L, Wu JC. Genome Editing of Isogenic Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Recapitulates Long QT Phenotype for Drug Testing. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2014; 64(5): 451-459.
Xu M*, Wu H*, Li RC, Zhang HB, Wang M, Tao J, Feng XH, Guo YB, Li SF, Lai ST, Zhou P, Li LL, Yang HQ, Luo GZ, Gao W, Han QD, Zhang YY, Wang XJ, Meng X, Wang SQ. Mir-24 Regulates JPH-2 Expression in Cardiomyocytes. Circulation Research. 2012; 111(7): 837-841.
Wu H, Xu M, Li RC, Guo L, Lai YS, Xu SM, Li SF, Lü QL, Li LL, Zhang HB, Zhang YY, Zhang CM, Wang SQ. Ultrastructural Remodeling of Ca2+ Signaling Apparatus in Failing Heart Cells. Cardiovascular Research. 2012; 95(4): 430-438.
Liu, Q.*, Wu, H.*, Luo, QJ., Jiang, C., Duren, Z., Bortle, K,V., Zhao, M., Zhao, B., Liu, J., Marciano, D.P., Lee-McMullen, B., Zhu, C., Narasimha, A.M., Gruber, J.J., Lipchik, A.M., Guo, H., Watson, N.K., Kay, M.A., Wu, J.C., Snyder, M.P. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors induce mitochondrial dysfunction during cardiomyocyte differentiation through alteration of GATA4-mediated networks. bioRxiv. 2020.
Sponsored Research/Activities
Title: Epigenetic regulation of PDE signaling in dilated cardiomyopathy
Role: Principal Investigator
Funding Agency: National Heart, Lung, & Blood Institute
Grant Number: R00 HL133473
Start Year: 2021
End Year: 2023
Notable Achievements
Stanford Cardiovascular Institute Travel Award, 2018
American Heart Association (AHA) BCVS New Investigator Award, 2017
NHLBI K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award, 2017
American Heart Association (AHA) postdoctoral fellowship, 2016
NHLBI Progenitor Cell Biology Consortium (PCBC) Jump Start Award, 2016
Finalist of AHA Melvin L Marcus Young Investigator Award, 2014
1st prize in the Beijing Young Investigator Symposium of Physiology, 2010