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Joshua Bloomekatz

Associate Professor of Biology

Joshua Eli Bloomekatz

Dr. Bloomekatz is a cell biologist who studies how cells communicate primarily in the context of cardiac development.

Research Interests

Dr. Bloomekatz's research interests are Cellular and Molecular Biology. He seeks to elucidate the molecular principles underlying how cells within and between tissues communicate with their local and global environment to change position, size, shape and identity. He studies these fundamental principles in the zebrafish cardiovascular system.

Research and teaching are inextricably intertwined in the Bloomekatz laboratory. Together we strive to create an open-minded, nurturing, hard working research environment that encourages learning and produces cutting edge research findings.

Publications

Shrestha R, McCann T, Saravanan H, Lieberth J, Koirala P, Bloomekatz J. The myocardium utilizes a platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha (Pdgfra)-phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling cascade to steer toward the midline during zebrafish heart tube formation. Elife. 2023 Nov 3;12. doi: 10.7554/eLife.85930. PubMed PMID: 37921445; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10651176.

Coordinated cell movement is a fundamental process in organ formation. During heart development, bilateral myocardial precursors collectively move toward the midline (cardiac fusion) to form the primitive heart tube. Extrinsic influences such as the adjacent anterior endoderm are known to be required for cardiac fusion. We previously showed however, that the platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha (Pdgfra) is also required for cardiac fusion (Bloomekatz et al., 2017). Nevertheless, an intrinsic mechanism that regulates myocardial movement has not been elucidated. Here, we show that the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) intracellular signaling pathway has an essential intrinsic role in the myocardium directing movement toward the midline. In vivo imaging further reveals midline-oriented dynamic myocardial membrane protrusions that become unpolarized in PI3K-inhibited zebrafish embryos where myocardial movements are misdirected and slower. Moreover, we find that PI3K activity is dependent on and interacts with Pdgfra to regulate myocardial movement. Together our findings reveal an intrinsic myocardial steering mechanism that responds to extrinsic cues during the initiation of cardiac development.

Bloomekatz J, Chi NC. Coordinating the first heartbeat. Nature. 2023 Oct;622(7981):37-39. doi: 10.1038/d41586-023-02938-2. PubMed PMID: 37759109.

Destici E, Zhu F, Tran S, Preissl S, Farah EN, Zhang Y, Hou X, Poirion OB, Lee AY, Grinstein JD, Bloomekatz J, Kim HS, Hu R, Evans SM, Ren B, Benner C, Chi NC. Human-gained heart enhancers are associated with species-specific cardiac attributes. Nat Cardiovasc Res. 2022 Sep;1(9):830-843. doi: 10.1038/s44161-022-00124-7. Epub 2022 Sep 15. PubMed PMID: 36817700; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9937543.

Panda A, Sharma PK, McCann T, Bloomekatz J, Repka MA, Murthy S. Fabrication and development of controlled release PLGA microneedles for macromolecular delivery using FITC-Dextran as model molecule. Journal of drug delivery science and technology. 2022 February; 68:102712. doi: 10.1016/j.jddst.2021.102712.

McCann T, Shrestha R, Graham A, Bloomekatz J. Using Live Imaging to Examine Early Cardiac Development in Zebrafish. Methods Mol Biol. 2022;2438:133-145. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2035-9_9. PubMed PMID: 35147940.

 

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Education

B.A. General Studies, University of California-Berkeley (2002)

B.S. Molecular Biology, University of California-Berkeley (2002)

Ph.D. Molecular Biology, Weill Cornell Medical College (2010)