Biosketch
Ilka
Pinz received her Ph.D. in physiology at the Alfred-Wegener
Institute for Polar and Marine Research, University of Bremen,
Germany. She did her postdoctoral training in the NMR laboratory
of Dr. Joanne Ingwall at Brigham and Women’s
Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston. Her research focused
on cardiac energy metabolism in several mouse models of heart
failure. After leaving a senior research associate/adjunct assistant
professorship position at the University of New England she joined
MMCRI in 2005 and supports the Magnetic Resonance Imaging Core
facility. |
Research
Interests
The research focus of my laboratory is on mechanisms leading
to the development of cardiomyopathy in dyslipidemia. With the
growing incidence of obesity, and the burden this puts on the
health care system, it is important to understand the mechanisms
how certain fatty acids and their metabolites contribute to signalling
pathways in cardiomyocytes that cause a decline in contractile
performance. In particular, the interaction of fatty acid metabolism
and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha), a cytokine released
by adipocytes and cardiomyocytes, are poorly understood. We utilize
transgenic mouse models of dyslipidemia and TNFalpha over-expression
to investigate contractile performance in-vivo and of the isolated
heart.
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Recent Publications
Pinz I. & H.O. Pörtner: Metabolic costs induced by lactate in the toad Bufo
marinus: new mechanism behind oxygen dept? J. Appl. Physiol. 2003, 94:
1177-1183
Javadpour M., Tardiff J. C., Pinz I., Ingwall J. S.: Decreased energetics in
murine hearts bearing the R92Q mutation in cradiac troponin T. J. Clin.
Invest. 2003, 112: 768-775
Nascimben L., Ingwall J. S., Lorell B. H., Pinz I., Schultz V., Tornheim K.,
Tian R.: Mechanisms for increased glycolysis in the hypertrophied rat heart.
Hypertension 2004, 44(5): 662-667
Pinz I., Perry D.J., Frederich M.: Activation of 5'-AMP activated protein
kinase during anaerobiosis in the rock crab, Cancer irroratus. Mount Dessert
Island Biological Laboratory Bulletin 2004, 44V
Pinz I., Robbins J., Rajasekaran N.S., Benjamin I.J., Ingwall J.S.:
Unmasking different mechanical and energetic roles for the small heat shock
proteins CryAB and HSPB2 in transgenic mouse hearts. FASEB J. 2008 Jan;
22(1): 84-92
Pinz I, Ostroy SE, Hoyer K, Osinska H, Robbins J, Molkentin JD, Ingwall JS.:
Calcineurin-induced energy wasting in a transgenic mouse model of heart
failure. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2008 Mar; 294(3): H1459-66
Pinz I, Wax SD, Anderson P, Ingwall JS: Low over-expression of TNFa in the
mouse heart increases contractile performance via TNFR1. Journal of Cellular
Biochemistry, 2008 May 1st, in press
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