Dr. Rong Tian is a trailblazing figure in cardiac metabolism research, renowned for her groundbreaking discoveries that have revolutionized our understanding of cellular energy dynamics and its impact on heart function. As Director of the Mitochondria and Metabolism Center at the University of Washington, her work has unveiled the pivotal role of metabolites as signaling molecules, challenging conventional wisdom. Dr. Tian’s investigations have elucidated the importance of metabolic flexibility in maintaining cardiac health and shed light on metabolic cardiomyopathy and mitochondrial dysfunction. Her visionary leadership and unwavering commitment to scientific inquiry continue to drive advancements in cardiovascular medicine, offering promise for novel therapeutic interventions and improved patient outcomes globally.

My research focuses on the molecular mechanisms regulating cell metabolism and energetics. A long-term goal of my laboratory is to understand the role of mitochondria and metabolism in the pathogenesis of human diseases, in particular cardiovascular diseases. We have utilized molecular and genetic approaches to identify and perturb specific regulators in the key pathways of cardiac energy metabolism in mice and subsequently interrogated the physiological and biochemical responses in vivo during the development of heart failure using multi-nuclear NMR spectroscopy. Our past work focused on the oxidative metabolism and mitochondrial ATP synthesis in heart failure using mouse models of altered glucose and fatty acid metabolism in the heart. Our recent work seeks to decipher the mechanistic links between impaired oxidative phosphorylation and mitochondria-triggered cell death during chronic stresses. Results of these studies identified an important role of cellular redox state in diseases caused by mitochondrial dysfunction including cardiovascular and neurological pathologies.

The three key areas are:

• Energy metabolism in cardiovascular diseases
• Mitochondrial dysfunction and metabolic signaling
• Metabolic mechanisms of immunity, obesity and resilience to stress

A Caudal, X Tang, JD Chavez, A Keller, JP Mohr, AA Bakhtina, O Villet, H Chen, B Zhou, MA Walker, R Tian, JE Bruce. Mitochondrial interactome quantitation reveals structural changes in metabolic machinery in the failing murine heart. Nat Cardiovasc Res 1, 855–866 (2022). PMID: 36405497

Cai S, Zhao M, Zhou B, Yoshii A, Bugg D, Villet O, Sahu A, Olson GS, Davis J, Tian R. Mitochondrial dysfunction in macrophages promotes inflammation and suppresses repair after myocardial infarction. J Clin Invest. 2023 Feb 15;133(4):e159498. doi: 10.1172/JCI159498. PMID: 36480284

Walker MA, Chen H, Yadav A, Ritterhoff J, Villet O, McMillen T, Wang Y, Purcell H, Djukovic D, Raftery D, Isoherranen N, Tian R. Raising NAD+ level stimulates short-chain dehydrogenase-reductase proteins to alleviate heart failure independent of mitochondrial protein deacetylation Circulation 2023 Dec 19;148(25):2038-2057. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.123.066039. Epub 2023 Nov 15. PMID: 37965787

Bornstein MR, Tian R, Arany Z. Human cardiac metabolism. Cell Metab. 2024 Jul 2;36(7):1456-1481. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2024.06.003. PMID: 38959861

Yoshii A, McMillen TS, Wang Y, Zhou B, Chen H, Banerjee D, Herrero M, Wang P, Muraoka N, Wang W, Murry CE, Tian R. Blunted Cardiac Mitophagy in Response to Metabolic Stress Contributes to HFpEF. Circ Res. 2024 Sep 27. doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.123.324103. Online ahead of print. PMID: 39328167