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

Ritterhoff J, Young S, Villet O, Shao D, Neto FC, Bettcher LF, Hsu YA, Kolwicz Jr. SC, Raftery D, Tian R. Metabolic Remodeling Promotes Cardiac Hypertrophy by Directing Glucose to Aspartate Biosynthesis. Circ Res 2020 Jan 17; 126(2): 182-196. PMID: 31709908

Tian R*, Colucci WS*, Arany Z, Bachschmid MM, Ballinger SW, Boudina S, Bruce JE, David W. Busija DW, Dikalov S, Dorn II GW, Galis ZS, Gottlieb GA, Kelly DP, Kitsis RN, Kohr MJ, Levy D, Lewandowski ED, McClung JM, Mochly-Rosen D, O’Brien KD, O’Rourke B, Park JY, Ping P, Sack MN, Sheu S-S, Shi Y, Shiva S, Wallace DC, PhD; Weiss RG, MD, Vernon HJ, Wong R, Schwartz-Longacre L. Unlocking the Secrets of Mitochondria in the Cardiovascular System: Path to a Cure in Heart Failure. Circulation 30 Sep 2019; 140:1205–1216

Shao D, Villet O, Zhang Z, Choi SW, Yan J, Ritterhoff J, Gu H, Djukovic D, Christodoulou D, Kolwicz SC Jr, Raftery D, Tian R. Glucose promotes cell growth by suppressing branched-chain amino acid degradation. Nat Commun. 2018 Jul 26; 9(1):2935. doi: 10.1038/s 41467-018-05362-7. PMID: 30050148

Zhou B, Tian R. Mitochondrial dysfunction in pathophysiology of heart failure. J Clin Invest. 2018 Aug 31; 128(9):3716-3726. doi: 10.1172/JCI120849. Epub 2018 Aug 20. PMID: 30124471

Chavez JD, Lee CF, Caudal A, Tian R, Bruce Cross—linking and mass spectrometry: taking systems structural biology to heart. Cell Syst. 2018 Jan 24;6(1):136-141.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.cels.2017.10.017. Epub 2017 Nov 29. PMID:29199018