Lab Members
Faculty
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Read More about Kenneth Margulies, MDKenneth Margulies, MD
Principal Investigator
Kenneth Margulies, MD
Principal Investigator
Dr. Ken Margulies is a Professor of Medicine and Physiology at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Margulies received his undergraduate education at Princeton University and his medical education at Jefferson Medical College. He received specialty training in Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Diseases at the Mayo Clinic. He is board certified in these specialties as well as Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology. Since 1993, Dr. Margulies has been an active physician-scientist in Philadelphia (Temple 1993-2004, UPenn 2004-present) and spends about 20% of his time in patient care and 80% in other activities-predominantly translational research.
Dr. Margulies' major contributions include first demonstrating the benefit of combined neprolysin plus angiotensin inhibition for heart failure, elucidation of the cell biology of myocardial recovery, helping define the integrative molecular architecture of failing human hearts, and establishing the central role of human heart tissue characterizations as a foundation for heart failure translational research.
Dr. Margulies' current research focuses on defining mechanisms of load-induced myocardial remodeling and the interactions between biomechanical overload and other factors predisposing to cardiomyopathy including genetic factors, cardiotoxic insults and metabolic abnormalities. Other active areas of inquiry include discovery-oriented integrative genomic inquiries focused on myocardial failure and recovery and computation image analysis of diseased human myocardium. Dr. Margulies research inquiries employ human heart tissues, iPSC-derived human cardiomyocytes, engineered heart tissue models, animal models, and proof-of-concept clinical trials.
Dr. Margulies is the Director of research within Penn’s heart failure and transplant program and the Director of Clinical Research throughout the Division of Cardiology at Penn. He is active in leadership roles within the Heart Failure Society of America and the American Heart Association. Dr. Margulies receives research funding from the National Institutes of Health and several commercial entities developing new therapeutics and diagnostics for heart failure.
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Read More about Alexia Vite, PhDAlexia Vite, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
Alexia Vite, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
Undergraduate institute: University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris
Graduate Training Institute: Pitié-Salpêtrière University Hospital, Paris
Research Interests: Cardiology, Cytoskeleton, Metabolism, Mechanotransduction
Fun Fact: Can pronounce "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" perfectly
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Michael Ibrahim, MD PhD
Principal Investigator, Assistant Professor of Surgery
Staff
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Read More about Kenneth BediKenneth Bedi
Lab Manager
Kenneth Bedi
Lab Manager
Undergraduate institute: Pennsylvania State University and Marywood University
Research Interests: cardiac metabolism, expanding the utilization of organ donors, ex vivo cardiac perfusion, and isolated cardiomyocyte physiology
Fun Fact: I was a bullpen catcher for the Reading Phillies now the Fighten Phils
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Read More about Lan Cheng, PhD
Lan Cheng, PhD
Senior Research Investigator - Ibrahim Lab
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Read More about Victor SenfVictor Senf
Lab Technician
Victor Senf
Lab Technician
Undergraduate institute: University of North Florida
Research Interests: Regenerative medicine
Fun Fact: Visiting Antarctica is on the very top of my bucket list
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Shawna Cada
Research Assistant
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Read More about Francisco Rosa
Francisco Rosa
Lab Technician
Post Doctoral Fellows
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Read More about Nesrine Bouhrira, PhD MSNesrine Bouhrira, PhD MS
Nesrine Bouhrira, PhD MS
Undergraduate institute: Preparatory School for Engineering Studies (2011) and National Engineering School of Monastir (2014), Tunisia
Graduate Training Institute: Rowan University
Research Interests: Load induced cardiovascular pathology, Load dependent myocardial remodeling
Fun Fact: I have dreams in English
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Read More about Benjamin Lee, MD PhDBenjamin Lee, MD PhD
Benjamin Lee, MD PhD
Undergraduate institute: Columbia University
Graduate Training Institute: Columbia University
Research Interests: 1) Understanding the impact of mechanical load on myocardial remodeling in 3D preparations (engineered heart tissues and adult cardiac slices) and 2) Targeted drug delivery to the heart
Fun Fact: Father of two energetic kids
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Read More about Fotios Pitoulis, MD PhDFotios Pitoulis, MD PhD
Post Doctoral Fellow - Ibrahim Lab
Fotios Pitoulis, MD PhD
Post Doctoral Fellow - Ibrahim Lab
Undergraduate institute: Imperial College London, United Kingdom (BSc)
Graduate Training Institute: Imperial College London, United Kingdom (MBBS, PhD)
Research Interests: Translational cardiovascular research, cardiac gene therapy, cardiac mechanics
Fun Fact: I have a dog, named Bowie, who sighs in annoyance when he is not allowed on the bed
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Read More about Blanca Pamias-Lopez, MDBlanca Pamias-Lopez, MD
Post Doctoral Fellow - Ibrahim Lab
Blanca Pamias-Lopez, MD
Post Doctoral Fellow - Ibrahim Lab
Undergrad: Imperial College London, BSc in Pharmacology
Grad: Imperial College London, MBBS (MD)
Research interest: cardiac remodelling, mechanical assist devices, gene therapy on myocardial slices
Fun fact: I grew up in the desert and one time a camel ate my dinner.
Students
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Read More about Julia Smolyak
Julia Smolyak
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Read More about Tony GuoTony Guo
Sarnoff Fellow
Tony Guo
Sarnoff Fellow
Undergraduate Institute: Duke University
Graduate Training Institute: University of Rochester
Research Interest: Metabolic inflexibility of cardiomyocytes in heart failure
Fun fact: I sing a cappella and musicals
