John W. Lough

John W. Lough, PhD is a Professor in the Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy at the Medical College of Wisconsin. His research focuses on cardiac regeneration mechanisms, particularly targeting the Tip60 protein's role in heart repair after myocardial infarction. Collaborating with Dr. John Auchampach, his lab explores epigenetic regulation through histone acetylation pathways.

Education: PhD from Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL), followed by postdoctoral training at MIT. His work combines genetic models with pharmacological approaches to investigate cardiomyocyte dedifferentiation and cell-cycle reactivation.

Key research areas include Tip60's role in DNA damage response suppression, histone H2A.Z acetylation modulation, and the development of regenerative therapies using Tip60 inhibitors like TH1834 and pentamidine. Recent studies demonstrate Tip60 depletion reduces apoptosis and enhances cardiac function post-MI through molecular mechanisms involving p27 inhibition and Atm signaling.

Advances involve CUT&Tag technology to study Tip60's genomic interactions at cardiomyocyte differentiation loci. Current investigations aim to validate Tip60's role in maintaining cardiomyocyte maturity through epigenetic modifications.