George Washington University · BiologyCardiac Adaptation Research Lab
Jennifer Michelle Davis · Washington, District of Columbia
Research Focus
Dr. Jennifer Michelle Davis' lab at the University of Washington focuses on understanding how the heart adapts to stress and injury, especially concerning the roles of cardiac muscle cells and fibroblasts in heart disease. By exploring how these cells respond to mechanical and molecular changes, the lab aims to identify new therapeutic approaches to improve heart function and prevent heart failure. Her research uses innovative techniques to manipulate and understand cellular processes that contribute to cardiac health and disease.
cardiac myocytesfibroblast biologycardiac remodelingheart failuresarcomeric mutationsmyofibroblastsfetal gene programp38 MAPKtherapeutic interventions
Research Aims
3AIM 01Investigate how MBNL1 regulates the transition between fetal and adult myocyte states during cardiac stress.
AIM 02Examine the role of cardiac fibroblasts in dilated cardiomyopathy and their adaptive responses.
AIM 03Determine the effectiveness of therapeutic strategies targeting fibroblasts versus myocytes in heart disease.
Skills the Lab Values
RNA sequencingcell culturemouse modelsgenetic silencingfibroblast isolationimmunofluorescenceWestern blothistology techniquesmechanical testing of tissues
Output against the department
Publications148top 46% of dept.476th of 1,033
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations6.0kbottom 43% of dept.588th of 1,033
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.