Victoria Bolotina, Ph.D.

Professor of Medicine, Physiology, and Biophysics

Dr. Bolotina, Ph.D., is a leading expert in Calcium signaling and ion channels (with over 2000 citations of her work), who is well funded by NIH. The focus of her research is on the molecular mechanisms of Calcium entry and its role in physiological and pathological function.

Calcium signaling is an essential component of cell life and death, and is directly involved in virtually all cellular functions. Using an integrative multidisciplinary approach and multiple state-of-the-art techniques, investigators in Dr.Bolotina’s lab track each process from individual molecules and protein complexes, to Calcium signaling cascades within the cell and the function of the whole organs/systems, and translate it to the origins of different disease and potential cures. We combine molecular, biochemical and electrophysiological approaches with advanced imaging of live cells (confocal, FRET, TIRF, live imaging and other), and with studies of the main physiological functions of primary cells and cell lines (proliferation, migration, secretion, constriction, relaxation and other). To study how targeted impairment of specific molecules translates into cellular dysfunctions (including but not limited to impairment of calcium homeostasis, ER stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, apoptosis), and how it translates into different diseases, we develop and study new transgenic and KO mouse models.

Currently, there are several major projects underway in Dr.Bolotina’s lab:

1) molecular, structural and functional determinants of the notorious store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE) pathway (including Orai1, STIM1 and PLA2g6), and their roles in health and disease;

2) the role of SOCE in atherosclerosis;

3) new molecular determinants of cell migration, angiogenesis and wound healing;

4) new mechanism of Ca2+ oscillations and insulin secretion in beta cells, and new determinants of diabetes;

5) identification of the mysterious calcium influx factor (CIF);

6) age-dependent progressive neurodegeneration (PD) in new transgenic mouse models recently developed in Dr.Bolotina’s lab.

Dr. Bolotina is a Director of the Affinity Research Collaborative program (ARC) on Calcium Homeostasis in Health and Disease, which is supported by the Department of Medicine. This program promotes multidisciplinary research and collaboration of PI’s from different departments and scientific backgrounds, and opens new directions for integrative research.