Education

BA Lake Forest College 1961

Ph.D. Physiology SUNY, New York City 1965

Postdoctoral work at Heidelberg University and UCLA

Research

Dr. Morad is an internationally recognized scientist in the field of cardiac electrophysiology and calcium signaling, specifically in the area of calcium-binding proteins. The cardiac muscle is a complex system composed of 40,000 proteins. These proteins "tell" the heart how to contract and how fast; they also control how heart muscle grows and regenerates. Calcium acts as a signaling mechanism in the function of thesec proteins. Dr. Morad seeks to discover what causes these calcium signaling mechanisms to stop working properly, which can result in congestive heart failure. Understanding this process could lead to new therapeutic approaches to treat congestive heart failure and other conditions. His work could lead to the world's first tissue-derived human heart pacemaker. A biological pacemaker derived from genetically engineered cells has great commercial viability as a replacement for current pacemaker technology made from artificial materials

Publications

• Arnáiz-Cot JJ, Damon BJ, Zhang XH, Cleemann L, Yamaguchi N, Meissner GW, Morad M. (2013) Cardiac calcium signaling pathologies associated with defective calmodulin regulation of type 2 ryanodine receptor. J Physiol (In Press)
• Zhang XH, Haviland S, Wei H, Sarić T, Fatima A, Hescheler J, Cleemann L, Morad M (2013) Ca2+ signaling in human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (iPS-CM) from normal and catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT)-afflicted subjects. Cell Calcium (In Press)
• Rosa AO, Yamaguchi N, Morad M. (2013) Mechanical regulation of native and the recombinant calcium channel. Cell Calcium 53:264-274.
• Scaringi JA, Rosa AO, Morad M, Cleemann L (2013) A new method to detect rapid oxygen changes around cells: How quickly do calcium channels sense oxygen in cardiomyocytes? J Appl Physiol (1985). (In Press)
• Rosa AO, Yamaguchi N, Morad M (2013) Mechanical regulation of native and the recombinant calcium channel. Cell Calcium 53:264-274.
• Belmonte S, Morad M. "Pressure-flow"-triggered Cai-transients in rat cardiac myocytes: possible mechanisms and role of mitochondria. J Physiol. [Epub ahead of print] 2008

• Janowski E, Cleemann L, Sasse P, Morad M. Diversity of Ca2+ signaling in developing cardiac cells. Ann N Y Acad Sci.1080:154-64. 2006
• N'Gouemo P, Yasuda RP, Morad M. Ethanol withdrawal is accompanied by downregulation of calcium channel alpha 1B subunit in rat inferior colliculus neurons. Brain Res. 1108(1):216-20. 2006
• Morad M, Soldatov N: Calcium channel inactivation: possible role in signal transduction and Ca2+ signaling. Cell Calcium. 38:223-231, 2005
• Morad M, Javaheri A, Risius T, Belmonte S: Multimodality of Ca2+ signaling in rat atrial myocytes. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1047:112-121, 2005
• Woo SH, Cleemann L, Morad M: Diversity of atrial local Ca2+ signalling: evidence from 2-D confocal imaging in Ca2+-buffered rat atrial myocytes. J Physiol. 567:905-921, 2005
• Morad M, Cleemann L, Knollmann BC:  Triadin: the new player on excitation-contraction coupling block. Circ Res. 96:607-9, 2005
• Abdrakhmanova G, Cleemann L, Lindstrom J, Morad M.Differential modulation of beta2 and beta4 subunits of human neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors by acidification. Mol Pharmacol. 66:347-55, 2004
• Morad M, Chau M. Learning about cardiac calcium signaling from genetic engineering. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1015:1-15, 2004
• Woo SH, Soldatov NM, Morad M. Modulation of Ca2+ signalling in rat atrial myocytes: possible role of the alpha1C carboxyl terminal. J Physiol. 552:437-47, 2003
• N'Gouemo P, Morad M. Voltage-gated calcium channels in adult rat inferior colliculus neurons. Neurosci. 120:815-826, 2003
• N'Gouemo P, Morad M. Ethanol withdrawal seizure susceptibility is associated with upregulation of L- and P-type Ca2+ channel currents in rat inferior colliculus neurons. Neuropharmacology. 429-437,2003
• He LP, Cleemann L, Soldatov NM, Morad M. Molecular determinants of cAMP-mediated regulation of the Na+-Ca2+ exchanger expressed in human cell lines. J Physiol. 548:677-689, 2003
• Knollmann BC, Kirchhof P, Sirenko SG, Degen H, Greene AE, Schober T, Mackow JC, Fabritz L, Potter JD, Morad M. Familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy-linked mutant troponin T causes stress-induced ventricular tachycardia and Ca2+-dependent action potential remodeling. Circ Res. 92:428-436, 2003
• Woo SH, Cleemann L, Morad M. Spatiotemporal characteristics of junctional and nonjunctional focal Ca2+ release in rat atrial myocytes. Circ Res. 92:1-11, 2003
• Woo SH, Cleemann L, Morad M. Ca(2+) current-gated focal and local Ca(2+) release in rat atrial myocytes: evidence from rapid 2-D confocal imaging. J Physiol. 543:439-453, 2002
• Abdrakhmanova G, Dorfman J, Xiao Y, Morad M. Protons enhance the gating kinetics of the alpha3/beta4 neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor by increasing its apparent affinity to agonists. Mol Pharmacol. 61:369-378, 2002
• Woo SH, Morad M. Bimodal regulation of Na+-Ca2+ exchanger by beta -adrenergic signaling pathway in shark ventricular myocytes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 98:2023-2028, 2001
• Knollmann BC, Blatt SA, Horton K, de Freitas F, Miller T, Bell M, Housmans PR, Weissman NJ, Morad M, Potter JD. Inotropic stimulation induces cardiac dysfunction in transgenic mice expressing a troponin T (I79N) mutation linked to familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. J Biol Chem. 276:10039-10048, 2001
• Morad M, Suzuki YJ. Redox regulation of cardiac muscle calcium signaling. Antioxid Redox Signal. 2:65-71, 2000
• Soldatov NM, Zhenochin S, AlBanna B, Abernethy DR, Morad M. New molecular determinant for inactivation of the human L-type alpha(1C) Ca(2+) channel. J Membr Biol. 177:129-135, 2000.