Carter Ralphe

Research Summary:

The Ralphe lab focuses on the study of inherited forms of cardiomyopathy, with particular interest in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. We use induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSC’s) derived from patients with specific mutations in cardiac myosin binding protein C to generate cardiomyocytes (CMs). With these cells we can study the basic pathophysiology related to specific disease-causing mutations. Additionally, we use CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing and adenoviral transduction approaches to introduce or correct specific mutations within cardiomyocytes. Functional data is generated from iPSC-CM’s grown in multicellular living human engineered cardiac constructs which exhibit the basic contractile characteristics of intact human myocardium.