Dr. Esra Cagavi received her bachelor’s degree from the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Bosphorus (Bogazici) University in 2002. The following year she joined Dr. Gerry Weinmaster’s lab at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. During her Ph.D. studies, she elucidated the ligand-induced or ligand-independent mechanism of Notch signal activation by metalloproteases in the mammalian system. After completing her graduate studies at UCLA, as a postdoctoral fellow, she joined Dr. Yibing Qyang’s lab at the Stem Cell Center and Cardiovascular Research Center at Yale University. During her postdoctoral training, she specialized in cardiac development, cardiovascular diseases, stem cell biology, in vitro cardiac differentiation, and using stem cells as disease models and regenerative translational therapeutic tools. Her research interests over the years have diversified and expanded, remaining focused on the cardiac system. Her lab uses cutting-edge molecular techniques including but not restricted to in vivo transgenic models, experimental cardiac cell therapy, CRISPR/Cas9 genome engineering, optogenetics, and organ-on-chips.

Currently, Dr. Cagavi’s research group is pursuing research on:

• Cardiovascular disease models, in particular congenital forms of arrhythmia,
• In vitro by patient-derived human induced pluripotent stem cells
• Molecular investigation of cardiac disease
• Cardiac and nervous systems interactions at the system level
• Mapping the sensorial innervations of the heart
• Cardiac immunology at diseased state