Luke Szweda, Ph.D.

Luke Szweda , Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center, and a member of its Division of Cardiology.

Originally from Wisconsin, Dr. Szweda holds a bachelor’s degree with honors in chemistry from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. He received his doctorate in biochemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles, and completed his postdoctoral training in biochemistry in the lab of Dr. Earl Stadtman at the National Institutes of Health.

Before joining the UT Southwestern faculty in 2017, Dr. Szeda served on the faculty at Case Western Reserve University and at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, where he was chair of the Aging and Metabolism Research Program.

Dr. Szweda’s research focuses on mechanisms by which diet and age change cardiac and mitochondrial metabolism, influence the redox status within cardiomyocytes, and affect insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease.

His investigations have resulted in more than 130 publications in peer-reviewed journals. Additionally, he has presented his findings at scientific conferences throughout the United States and around the world.

Dr. Szweda is active in several professional organizations, including the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Chemical Society, and the American Heart Association.

Undergraduate

Carleton College (1982), Chemistry

Graduate School

Uni of California (UCLA) (1990), Biochemistry

• Cardiac and Mitochondrial Metabolism
• Diet-induced Insulin Resistance and Cardiovascular Disease
• Heart Regeneration
• Redox Signaling
• Regulation of Pyruvate Dehydrogenase

Featured Publications

Regulation of Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Kinase 4 in the Heart through Degradation by the Lon Protease in Response to Mitochondrial Substrate Availability.

Crewe C, Schafer C, Lee I, Kinter M, Szweda LI J. Biol. Chem. 2017 Jan 292 1 305-312

Hypoxia induces heart regeneration in adult mice.

Nakada Y, Canseco DC, Thet S, Abdisalaam S, Asaithamby A, Santos CX, Shah AM, Zhang H, Faber JE, Kinter MT, Szweda LI, Xing C, Hu Z, Deberardinis RJ, Schiattarella G, Hill JA, Oz O, Lu Z, Zhang CC, Kimura W, Sadek HA Nature 2017 01 541 7636 222-227

Catalase-dependent H2O2 consumption by cardiac mitochondria and redox-mediated loss in insulin signaling.

Rindler PM, Cacciola A, Kinter M, Szweda LI Am. J. Physiol. Heart Circ. Physiol. 2016 Nov 311 5 H1091-H1096

Lysine Acetylation Activates Mitochondrial Aconitase in the Heart.

Fernandes J, Weddle A, Kinter CS, Humphries KM, Mather T, Szweda LI, Kinter M Biochemistry 2015 Jun 54 25 4008-18

The oxygen-rich postnatal environment induces cardiomyocyte cell-cycle arrest through DNA damage response.

Puente BN, Kimura W, Muralidhar SA, Moon J, Amatruda JF, Phelps KL, Grinsfelder D, Rothermel BA, Chen R, Garcia JA, Santos CX, Thet S, Mori E, Kinter MT, Rindler PM, Zacchigna S, Mukherjee S, Chen DJ, Mahmoud AI, Giacca M, Rabinovitch PS, Aroumougame A, Shah AM, Szweda LI, Sadek HA Cell 2014 Apr 157 3 565-79

Rapid inhibition of pyruvate dehydrogenase: an initiating event in high dietary fat-induced loss of metabolic flexibility in the heart.

Crewe C, Kinter M, Szweda LI PLoS ONE 2013 8 10 e77280

Reperfusion-induced translocation of deltaPKC to cardiac mitochondria prevents pyruvate dehydrogenase reactivation.

Churchill EN, Murriel CL, Chen CH, Mochly-Rosen D, Szweda LI Circ. Res. 2005 Jul 97 1 78-85

Frataxin acts as an iron chaperone protein to modulate mitochondrial aconitase activity.

Bulteau AL, O'Neill HA, Kennedy MC, Ikeda-Saito M, Isaya G, Szweda LI Science 2004 Jul 305 5681 242-5

Reversible inactivation of alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase in response to alterations in the mitochondrial glutathione status.

Nulton-Persson AC, Starke DW, Mieyal JJ, Szweda LI Biochemistry 2003 Apr 42 14 4235-42

Declines in mitochondrial respiration during cardiac reperfusion: age-dependent inactivation of alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase.

Lucas DT, Szweda LI Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 1999 Jun 96 12 6689-93

• Fellow
  American Association for the Advancement of Science (2013)
• Established Investigator Award
  American Heart Association (2000-2004)
• Individual National Research Service Award
  U.S. Public Health Service (1990)
• Intramural Research Training Award
  National Institutes of Health (1990-1994)

• American Association for the Advancement of Science
• American Chemical Society
• American Heart Association
• American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology