Research interests

My laboratory is interested in cardiac pathology associated with obesity. We are particularly interested in the sphingolipid pathway in the heart. Ceramide and sphingomyelin are the main sphingolipids and are major components of caveolae and lipid rafts. Caveolae are membrane invaginations to which many integral and membrane-associated signalling proteins localize to. Using in vivo and in vitro approaches we are able to change caveolar structure and follow the changes in intracellular localization of signalling molecules such as endothelial nitric oxide synthase, Akt/PKB, and caveolin3. These changes in intracellular localization have a direct effect on the activity of these proteins, and thus are directly correlated to the contractile performance of the heart.

I am also the Director of the Small Animal Imaging Core at MMCRI. We have a state-of-the-art in vivo imaging facility that includes a small animal magnetic resonance imager (MRI, BRUKER, PharmaScan, 7T), a high resolution micro-ultrasound (Vevo770, VisualSonis), and a X-ray micro-computed tomograph (µCT) (vivaCT40, SCANCO USA Inc.).

 

Publications

• 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 TNF? in the mouse heart increases contractile performance via TNFR1. Journal of Cellular Biochemistry, 2008, 105(1): 99-107.
• 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. & 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

Community/University Service

• 2006 to 2007 — Community Service — reviewer, NEA1, Northeast Consortium, American Heart Association
• 2008 to 0000 — Community Service — reviewer, Region 1 Cardiac Biology / Regulation, American Heart Association