The Day laboratory studies disease mechanisms in cardiomyopathies with a major area of focus on regulation of the ubiquitin proteasome system in protein turnover and degradation. The lab is exploring the interaction between inflammation, proteasome dysfunction and ventricular remodeling in the heart. The Day lab is also interested in disease pathways triggered by sarcomere mutations in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and understanding the interactions of the mutant allele product with RNA and protein surveillance systems. Its major focus in this project is on how truncating mutation in a sarcomere gene, myosin binding protein C, that cause hypertrophic cardiomyopathy result in impaired proteasome function and whether activation of the proteasome or upstream protein quality control systems, such as the molecular chaperone system, will improve disease phenotypes. The work of the lab utilizes human tissue from patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and heart failure, primary cultured myocytes, mouse models, and patient-specific stem-cell derived cardiac myocytes.

Source: https://www.umms.med.umich.edu/pibsfacsearch/facultyPage.do?facUniqname=sday