Edward G. Lakatta, M.D.

Dr. Lakatta's research program investigates how aging alters the molecular, cellular, tissue, and whole-organism systems that generate, regulate, and maintain cardiovascular function, thereby increasing vulnerability to disease. A major focus is the sinoatrial node, the heart's natural pacemaker. The laboratory examines how intracellular calcium cycling, membrane ion channels, cAMP-dependent signaling, autonomic input, and communication among heterogeneous pacemaker and interstitial cells self-organize to generate each heartbeat, and how aging and disease disrupt this coupled system, leading to rhythm instability, sinoatrial node dysfunction, and heartbeat frailty.

Complementary studies examine lifelong trajectories of cardiac remodeling and arterial stiffening; mechanisms of cardiac adaptation and proteostatic failure; and human determinants and biomarkers of cardiovascular reserve and arterial aging. The program integrates molecular and single-cell biology, physiology, biophysics, computational analysis, longitudinal animal studies, and human cohorts to identify biomarkers that distinguish resilient from accelerated cardiovascular aging and therapeutic targets for preserving cardiovascular health in older adults. This work is conducted through team science within LCS and collaborations across NIH, academia, and industry.

Edward G. Lakatta, M.D., is a Senior Investigator in the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute on Aging. He received his M.D. from Georgetown University School of Medicine and completed postgraduate training in internal medicine and cardiology at the University of Rochester, Georgetown University Hospital, and Johns Hopkins Hospital. He also received basic research training at the National Institutes of Health and in the Department of Physiology at University College London. From 1976 to 1985, he served as section chief of the Cardiovascular Laboratory in the Clinical Physiology Branch; in 1985, he founded the Laboratory of Cardiovascular Science. Across a career spanning more than five decades, he has developed an interdisciplinary program integrating basic, translational, and human studies of cardiovascular aging.