Utah Cardiac Recovery Symposium – U-CARS
The Selzman Lab is located in the Nora Eccles Harrison Cardiovascular Research & Training Institute (CVRTI) at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.
To investigate the mechanisms of myocardial recovery, the lab follows a “bedside to bench and back” approach, using human myocardial tissue findings from cardiac recovery patients to guide its basic science investigations.
This includes knockout, inhibition or overexpression strategies in vitro and in vivo (small and large animal models). With this approach the lab identified (a) MCT4 inhibition, (b) VDAC2 activation, (c) the glucose accessory pathways (pentose-phosphate and 1-carbon metabolism) and (d) RUNX1 inhibition as novel therapeutic targets for myocardial recovery in chronic heart failure.
Dr. Selzman co-organizes the annual Utah Cardiac Recovery Symposium (U-CARS), a one-of-a-kind think-tank meeting that brings together national leaders in heart recovery — cardiologists, surgeons, scientists and other providers — to advance the field.
Research Areas
The Selzman lab focuses on understanding the molecular and transcriptional mechanisms underlying cardiovascular diseases and the biological processes that enable myocardial recovery and reverse remodeling.
He is one of a handful of cardiothoracic surgeons who run a translational science laboratory, historically funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Transcriptional regulation in cardiac remodeling
Metabolic and molecular mechanisms of myocardial recovery
Cardiac remodeling and reverse remodeling in heart failure
Ischemia-reperfusion injury
Leadership
Craig H. Selzman, MD, is the Dr. Russell M. Nelson and Dantzel W. Nelson Presidential Endowed Chair and Professor and Chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Utah. He joined the University of Utah Department of Surgery in 2008 as Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery.
Clinically, he is the Surgical Director of the Cardiac Mechanical Support and Heart Transplant program and serves as the Medical Director of the Transplant Service Line for the University Hospital. He is an Investigator at the Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute (CVRTI).
Commitment to Mentorship
Dr. Selzman leads a translational science laboratory at the Nora Eccles Harrison Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute (CVRTI), working with a multidisciplinary team of scientists, trainees, and collaborators.
The lab trains its members in cardiothoracic surgical research, from experimental models to translational clinical studies focused on heart failure and myocardial recovery.
