R. John Solaro, PhD
Professor
Physiology and Biophysics
Contact
Building & Room:
2055 COMRB
Office Phone:
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About
John Solaro trained for the Ph.D. in Physiology (1971) at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. After holding faculty positions at Medical College of Virginia (1971-77), and the University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine (1977-88), he was appointed Head of the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at UIC (1988-2015). In 1998 he was appointed Distinguished University Professor in the University of Illinois System. He is the founder and past director of the UIC Center for Cardiovascular Research. In 1975-76 he was a Fellow of the American and British Heart Associations, working with Professor S. V. Perry in England. In 1987 he was a Fogarty Fellow at University College London, working with Professor David Allen. At UIC, Solaro received the University Scholar Award, the Faculty of the Year Award, the Mentor of the Year Award, and the Distinguished Service Award. He was Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology (2017-2019). The Solaro lab investigates the physiology, pathology, and pharmacology of cardiac sarcomeres as significant regulators of cardiac dynamics. Seminal findings supporting this line of investigation were published in Nature, 1976, demonstrating adrenergic control of cardiac dynamics by phosphorylation of sarcomeric proteins. Current translational studies interrogate the prevention and reversal of familial cardiomyopathies linked to mutations of sarcomeric proteins by therapeutic approaches involving modifications of mechano-signaling by agents directly targeted to sarcomeres, via sphingolipid signaling, via biased ligands at the AT1R, and, most recently, by the vascular/endothelial microenvironment. Dr. Solaro has published 389 peer-reviewed papers, funded by the NIH, NHLBI since 1977.