Heart Regeneration.
At the Molecular Scale.
We study how zebrafish rebuild damaged cardiac muscle — uncovering the gene regulatory and chromatin dynamics that distinguish true regeneration from fibrotic scarring.
Zebrafish Cardiac Regeneration
Unlike mammals, zebrafish fully regenerate resected or cryoinjured ventricles within weeks. We use these animals as the primary model system to study what makes full cardiac regeneration possible at the genetic, epigenetic, and cellular level.
Chromatin & Gene Regulation
We map how chromatin opens and closes across the regenerating heart using ATAC-seq, CUT&RUN, and ChIP-seq — identifying the regulatory switches that control cardiomyocyte re-entry into the cell cycle.
Transcription Factor Networks
Dissecting the master regulators — GATA4, Hand2, Nkx2.5 — that coordinate regeneration-associated gene programs.
Fish vs. Mammal
Cross-species genomic comparisons between regenerating zebrafish and injured mouse hearts to identify conserved, therapeutically actionable pathways.
"To understand regeneration deeply enough to reproduce it."
— Dr. Aaron Goldman, PI—— PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORDr. Joseph Aaron Goldman, PhD
Dr. Goldman leads the lab's research at the Ohio State Biochemistry Program. His work centers on understanding how gene expression and chromatin architecture change during cardiac regeneration — and what prevents this process in the human heart.
Using zebrafish as a model organism, the Goldman Lab applies a toolkit of genomics, transgenics, and live imaging to ask fundamental questions about tissue repair.
—— LATEST