Mitochondrial Biology and Metabolism

The Laboratory of Mitochondrial Biology and Metabolism, led by Dr. Michael N. Sack, focuses on modifications of proteins that play pivotal roles in metabolism and mitochondrial function to understand how these modifications affect disease risk.

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Michael Sack, M.D., Ph.D.

Clinical Trials and Studies

Metabolic or genetic diseases that raise the risk for heart disease

Recruiting
All Ages
All Genders
Accepting Healthy Volunteers
Do you or a first-degree relative have a condition that raises the risk of heart disease? This study aims to test the heart and lung function of people who have a genetic or metabolic disease that raises their risk of heart disease. Participants in this study must be between 2 and 100 years old. This study is located in Bethesda, Maryland.

Technical Development of Cardiovascular MRI

Recruiting
Adult, Older Adult
All Genders
Accepting Healthy Volunteers
Are you able to have a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan and want to help people with heart failure? This study is developing new methods for imaging the heart and blood vessels using MRI to improve how healthcare providers diagnose people with heart failure. This study takes place in Maryland and Washington, DC.

Pilot Study to Evaluate the Effect of NAD+ Boosting With Nicotinamide Riboside on Immunometabolism and Immunity in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Recruiting
Adult, Older Adult
Female
Accepting Healthy Volunteers
Are you an adult woman with lupus? In this study, researches will try to determine if an investigational medication is effective in treating lupus in adult women. You must be at least 18 years old. The study will also enroll healthy volunteers who have no history of lupus or other autoimmune disease. The study will take place at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

Causes and Natural History of Dyslipidemias

Recruiting
All Ages
All Genders
Not Accepting Healthy Volunteers
Do you or your child have dyslipidemia? This study is exploring how different diagnostic tests can help us understand how lipid disorders, including high blood cholesterol and high blood triglycerides, affect the body. Information from this study may help improve the way lipid disorders are diagnosed or treated in the future. Participants in this study must be at least 2 years old. The study is being conducted in Bethesda, Maryland.

Featured Publications

Boosting NAD preferentially blunts Th17 inflammation via arginine biosynthesis and redox control in healthy and psoriasis subjects

Authors: Han K, Singh K, Meadows AM, Sharma R, Hassanzadeh S, Wu J, Goss-Holmes H, Huffstutler RD, Tague HL, Mehta NN, Griffin JL, Tian R, Traba J, Sack MN.
Cell Reports Medicine 2023 Sep 19;4(101157):
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Boosting NAD+ blunts toll-like receptor-4 induced type-I interferon in control and systemic lupus erythematosus monocytes.

Authors: Wu J, Singh K, Lin A, Meadows AM, Wu K, Shing V, Bley M, Huffstutler RD, Schmidt MS, Blanco LP, Tian R, Brenner C, Pirooznia M, Kaplan MJ, Sack MN
J. Clin. Invest. 2022 Mar 01;132(5):
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Fasting-induced FOXO4 blunts human CD4+ T helper cell responsiveness

Authors: Han K, Singh K, Rodman M, Hassanzadeh S, Huffstutler RD, Seifuddin F, Dagur P, McCoy PJ, Chen J, Biancotto A, Stagliano K, Teague H, Mehta NN, Pirooznia M, Sack MN.
Nature Metabolism 2021 Mar 01;3(3):318-326
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BLOC1S1/GCN5L1/BORCS1 is a critical mediator for the initiation of autolysosomal tubulation.

Authors: Wu K, Seylani A, Wu J, Wu X, Bleck CKE, Sack MN.
Autophagy. 2021 Feb 25;Online ahead of print:
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Prolonged Fasting Suppresses Mitochondrial NLRP3 Inflammasome Assembly and Activation via SIRT3-mediated Activation of Superoxide Dismutase 2

Authors: 3. Traba J, Geiger S, Kwarteng-Siaw M, Han K, Ra OH, Siegel RM, Gius D, Sack MN.
J Biol Chem. 2017 Jul 21;292(29):12153-12164
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Meet the Team

Michael Sack, M.D., Ph.D.

Michael Sack, M.D., Ph.D.

Senior Investigator

Michael Sack graduated with his M.B.B.Ch. and M.Sc. from the University of Witwatersrand and earned his Ph.D. in 2000 from the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He did his internship at Johannesburg General Hospital and his internal medicine residency at Georgetown University Medical Center. He conducted cardiology research and did a clinical fellowship at Washington University Medical Center from 1994 to 1997. Dr. Sack joined the NHLBI in 2003. Dr. Sack has authored or coauthored more than 100 papers, editorials, reviews, and book chapters. He currently sits on the editorial boards of the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology, Mitochondrion, Journal of Gerontology, and Drug Discovery Today and is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation.

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Alumni

Iain Scott, Ph.D.

Research Fellow
Iain Scott, Ph.D. is currently a Associate Professor of Medicine at University of Pittsburgh.

Lingdi Wang, Ph.D.

Research Fellow
Lingdi Wang, Ph.D. is currently a Associate Professor at Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China.

Javier Traba, Ph.D.

Research Fellow
Javier Traba, Ph.D. is currently a Assistant Professor at Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.

Kaiyuan Wu, Ph.D.

Research Fellow
Kaiyuan Wu, Ph.D. is currently a Staff Scientist at NHLBI, DIR.