A/Professor Salvatore Pepe

Biography:

A/Prof Salvatore Pepe initially trained in clinical pharmacology and biochemistry. After completing a PhD in cardiac physiology he undertook four years of postdoctoral training as a National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Aging, Fogarty Fellow at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore, USA.

Before joining Murdoch Childrens, he was Head of the Laboratory of Cardiothoracic Surgical Research, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Alfred Hospital and Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Department of Surgery, Monash University.

A/Prof Pepe's research has been focused on dysfunctional mitochondrial metabolism in heart disease injury, therapeutic targets in heart failure, and cardioprotection in heart transplantation and cardiopulmonary bypass surgery. In mid-2008 he was invited to move his laboratory to the Murdoch Childrens to undertake the challenge of paediatric heart research.

Other Affiliations:

Honorary Affiliations:

Principal Fellow, Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne
Associate Editor, Heart Lung and Circulation, (Elsevier)
Associate Editor, Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology (Wiley-Blackwell)
Editorial Board, Journal of Cellular & Molecular Cardiology (Elsevier)
Treasurer (and Past-President) of the International Society for Heart Research (AUS)

Awards:

2001: Speaker Medal of Merit, St Boniface Hospital Cardiovascular Institute, Canada
2006: Tony Charlton Surgical Research Award, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
2006: Fellowship of the American Heart Association
2007: Fellowship of the Cardiac Society of Australia & New Zealand
2008: Fellowship of the Society for Gerontological Cardiology (USA)
2016: Distinguished Leader Award, International Society for Heart Research World Congress

Research:

A/Prof Salvatore Pepe’s work is focused on cardiovascular complications arising from congenital disorders, premature birth and palliative cardiological and surgical interventions, particularly mitochondrial cardiomyopathies and other heart failure disorders. The emphasis of the research effort is to elucidate basic disease mechanisms, new therapeutic targets and translation to clinical therapeutics.

Projects:

Cellular and molecular signaling mechanisms regulating adaptive processes and cardioprotection during disease progression and interventional procedures
Complex1 protein therapy for mitochondrial cardiomyopathy
Novel therapeutics for cancer-therapy-induced mitochondrial cardiomyopathies
MicroRNAs and Wnt-related signaling in fetal and neonatal cardiopulmonary development and premature birth complications
Cord blood stem cell delivery to myocardium during neonatal palliative cardiac surgery

Pepe S, Cheung MM. Gaps between the Teeth of Cardiovascular Health Strategy. Heart Lung Circ. 2017;26(1):1-5.

Pepe S. Mitochondria "muscle in" as a potential adjunct therapy in cardiothoracic surgery. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2016 Dec 5. pii: S0022-5223(16)31642-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2016.11.046

Sheeran FL, Pepe S. Posttranslational modifications and dysfunction of mitochondrial enzymes in human heart failure. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2016; 311(2): E449-60.

Brizard CP*, Looi JY* equal first author, Smolich JJ, Horton SB, Angerosa J, Elwood NJ, Pepe S. Safety of Intracoronary Human Cord Blood Stem Cells in a Lamb Model of Infant Cardio-pulmonary Bypass. Ann Thorac Surg. 2015; 100: 1021-1029.

Pepe S, Mentzer RM Jr, Gottlieb RA. Cell-permeable protein therapy for complex I dysfunction. J Bioenerg Biomembr. 2014; 46: 337-45

Pepe S. Omentin on a Four-Pronged Fork: Another Reason Why Obesity Erodes Cardiovascular Survival. Heart Lung Circ. 2014; 23: 791-793.

Marasco SF, Sheeran FL, Chaudhuri K, Vale M, Bailey M, Pepe S. Molecular markers of programmed cell death in donor hearts prior to transplantation. Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation. 2014; 33: 185-93

Liaw NY, Hoe LS, Sheeran FL, Peart JN, Headrick JP, Cheung MMH, Pepe S. Postnatal shifts in ischemic tolerance and cell survival signaling in murine myocardium. American Journal of Physiology: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. 2013; 305: R1171-R1181

Looi YJ, Elwood NJ, Brizard CP, Pepe S. Developing stem cell therapeutics for the heart also requires targeting non-myocytes. Heart, Lung and Circulation. 2013; 22: 975-979

Pepe S, Liaw NY, Hepponstall M, Sheeran FL, Yong MS, d'Udekem Y, Cheung MM, Konstantinov IE. Effect of remote ischemic preconditioning on phosphorylated protein signaling in children undergoing tetralogy of fallot repair: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Heart Association. 2013;2:e000095

Jones BO, Pepe S, Sheeran FL, Donath S, Hardy P, Shekerdemian L, Penny DJ, McKenzie I, Horton S, Brizard CP, d'Udekem Y, Konstantinov IE, Cheung MM. Remote ischemic preconditioning in cyanosed neonates undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass: A randomized controlled trial. The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. 2013; 46: 1334-1340

Ke BX*, Pepe S* equal first author, Grubb DR, Komen JC, Laskowski A, Rodda FA, Hardman BM, Pitt JJ, Ryan MT, Lazarou M, Koleff J, Cheung MMH, Smolich JJ, Thorburn DR. Tissue-specific splicing of an Ndufs6 gene-trap insertion generates a mitochondrial complex I deficiency-specific cardiomyopathy. Proceedings National Academy of Sciences USA. 2012; 109: 6165-6170

Canton M, Menazza S, Sheeran FL, Polverino de Laureto P, Di Lisa F, Pepe S. Oxidation of myofibrillar proteins in human heart failure. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2011;57:300-309

Funding:

Links: