Heart abnormalities in diabetic patients are distinctive from those observed in non-diabetes. Our pre-clinical work focuses on two main areas of investigation: i) novel molecular pathways involving selective autophagy processes such as glycophagy and glucose management in diabetic heart muscle cells, and ii) cardiac fructose metabolism dysregulation and fructose damage pathways.
Our investigations include assessment of heart function at the ‘whole organ’ and ‘single cell’ cardiomyocyte level. We link functional outcomes to molecular signalling measurements and use gene manipulation techniques to interrogate the proposed mechanisms and test novel intervention strategies.
See the Mellor Lab website for more details.