Ilka Pinz

Education

  • BS,MS: Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany
  • PhD: Physiology & Biochemistry, Alfred Wegener Institute, University of Bremen, Germany
  • Postdoctoral Training: Harvard Medical School

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 signaling 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 signaling 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.).

Selected Publications

  • Talukder MA, Preda M, Ryzhova L, Prudovsky I, Pinz IM. Heterozygous caveolin-3 mice show increased susceptibility to palmitate-induced insulin resistance. Physiol Rep. 2016 Mar;4(6). doi: 10.14814/phy2.12736. Epub 2016 Mar 31. PubMed PMID: 27033451; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4814890.
  • Malaeb SN, Davis JM, Pinz IM, Newman JL, Dammann O, Rios M. 2014. Effect of sustained postnatal systemic inflammation on hippocampal volume and function in mice. Pediatr Res. 76: 363-369.
  • Marks PC, Preda M, Henderson T, Liaw L, Lindner V, Friesel RE, Pinz IM. 2013. Interactive 3D analysis of blood vessel trees and collateral vessel volumes in magnetic resonance angiograms in the mouse ischemic hindlimb model. Open Med Imaging 7: 19-27.
  • Knowles CJ, Cebova M, Pinz IM. 2013. Palmitate diet-induced loss of cardiac caveolin-3: a novel mechanism for lipid-induced contractile dysfunction. PLoS One 9: e61369.
  • Young K, Conley B, Romero D, Tweedie E, O’Neill C, Pinz I, Brogan L, Lindner V, Liaw L, Vary CP. 2012. BMP9 regulates endoglin-dependent chemokine responses in endothelial cells. Blood 120: 4263-4273.
  • Knowles CJ, Dionne M, Cebova M, Pinz I. 2011. Palmitate-induced translocation of caveolin-3 and endothelial nitric oxide synthase in cardiomyocytes. Online J Biol Sci. 11: 27-36.
  • Pinz I, Zhu M, Mende U, Ingwall JS. 2011. An Improved Isolation Procedure for Adult Mouse Cardiomyocytes. Cell Biochem Biophys. 61: 93-101.
  • Pinz I, Tian R, Belke D, Swanson E, Dillmann W, Ingwall JS. 2011. Compromised Myocardial Energetics in Hypertrophied Mouse Hearts Diminish the Beneficial Effect of Overexpressing SERCA2a. J Biol Chem. 286: 10163-10168.
  • Yang X, Kilgallen S, Andreeva V, Spicer DB, Pinz I, Friesel R. 2010. Conditional expression of Spry1 in neural crest causes craniofacial and cardiac defects. BMC Dev Biol. 10: 48.
  • Devlin MJ, Cloutier AM, Thomas NA, Panus DA, Lotinun S, Pinz I, Baron R, Rosen CJ, Bouxsein ML. 2010. Caloric restriction leads to high marrow adiposity and low bone mass in growing mice. J Bone Miner Res. 25: 2078-2088.
  • Urs S, Roudabush A, O’Neill CF, Pinz I, Prudovsky I, Kacer D, Tang Y, Liaw L, Small D. 2008. Soluble forms of the Notch ligands Delta1 and Jagged1 promote in vivo tumorigenicity in NIH3T3 fibroblasts with distinct phenotypes. Am J Pathol. 173: 865-878.

A complete list of publications can be found on My NCBI

Service

Community Service

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