Nicholas Lam, Ph.D.

Nicholas Lam, Ph.D., is an Assistant Instructor in the Department of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center and a member of the Division of Cardiology.

Originally from Melbourne, Australia, Dr. Lam holds a bachelor's degree in reproductive and developmental biology from the University of Melbourne and a degree in stem cell biology from Monash University with honors, where he also earned a doctorate in cardiac regeneration.

He completed two postdoctoral fellowships at UT Southwestern, studying heart regeneration in the lab of Dr. Hesham Sadek and molecular biology in the lab of Dr. Eric Olson. He joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2020.

Dr. Lam’s research interests include cardiac regeneration, cardiomyocyte proliferation, and the cell cycle. Dr. Lam is interested in finding strategies to coax rarely dividing cardiomyocytes to proliferate to help regenerate the heart after injury. In addition, he is developing protocols to measure cardiomyocyte proliferation. His investigations have resulted in several publications in peer-reviewed journals and contributions to two book chapters.

Dr. Lam serves on the editorial board of Frontiers in Physiology and is an ad hoc reviewer for Frontiers in Physiology and Scientific Reports.

Personal Note

Outside the lab, Dr. Lam enjoys experimenting with his cooking, food, coffee, traveling, and exercising.

• Cardiac Regeneration
• Cardiomyocyte Proliferation
• Cell Cycle

Featured Publications

Mechanism of Eccentric Cardiomyocyte Hypertrophy Secondary to Severe Mitral Regurgitation.

Li S, Nguyen NUN, Xiao F, Menendez-Montes I, Nakada Y, Tan WLW, Anene-Nzelu CG, Foo RS, Thet S, Cardoso AC, Wang P, Elhelaly WM, Lam NT, Pereira AHM, Hill JA, Sadek HA, Circulation 2020 Jun 141 22 1787-1799

A calcineurin-Hoxb13 axis regulates growth mode of mammalian cardiomyocytes.

Nguyen NUN, Canseco DC, Xiao F, Nakada Y, Li S, Lam NT, Muralidhar SA, Savla JJ, Hill JA, Le V, Zidan KA, El-Feky HW, Wang Z, Ahmed MS, Hubbi ME, Menendez-Montes I, Moon J, Ali SR, Le V, Villalobos E, Mohamed MS, Elhelaly WM, Thet S, Anene-Nzelu CG, Tan WLW, Foo RS, Meng X, Kanchwala M, Xing C, Roy J, Cyert MS, Rothermel BA, Sadek HA, Nature 2020 06 582 7811 271-276

Mitochondrial Substrate Utilization Regulates Cardiomyocyte Cell Cycle Progression.

Cardoso AC, Lam NT, Savla JJ, Nakada Y, Pereira AHM, Elnwasany A, Menendez-Montes I, Ensley EL, Petric UB, Sharma G, Sherry AD, Malloy CR, Khemtong C, Kinter MT, Tan WLW, Anene-Nzelu CG, Foo RS, Nguyen NUN, Li S, Ahmed MS, Elhelaly WM, Abdisalaam S, Asaithamby A, Xing C, Kanchwala M, Vale G, Eckert KM, Mitsche MA, McDonald JG, Hill JA, Huang L, Shaul PW, Szweda LI, Sadek HA, Nat Metab 2020 Feb 2 2 167-178

DNA Damage Response Mediates Pressure Overload-Induced Cardiomyocyte Hypertrophy.

Nakada Y, Nhi Nguyen NU, Xiao F, Savla JJ, Lam NT, Abdisalaam S, Bhattacharya S, Mukherjee S, Asaithamby A, Gillette TG, Hill JA, Sadek HA, Circulation 2019 02 139 9 1237-1239

Neonatal Heart Regeneration: Comprehensive Literature Review.

Lam NT, Sadek HA, Circulation 2018 07 138 4 412-423

Redox Regulation of Heart Regeneration: An Evolutionary Tradeoff.

Elhelaly WM, Lam NT, Hamza M, Xia S, Sadek HA, Front Cell Dev Biol 2016 4 137

Cardiogenic genes expressed in cardiac fibroblasts contribute to heart development and repair.

Furtado MB, Costa MW, Pranoto EA, Salimova E, Pinto AR, Lam NT, Park A, Snider P, Chandran A, Harvey RP, Boyd R, Conway SJ, Pearson J, Kaye DM, Rosenthal NA, Circ Res 2014 Apr 114 9 1422-34

Abnormal mitochondrial L-arginine transport contributes to the pathogenesis of heart failure and rexoygenation injury.

Williams D, Venardos KM, Byrne M, Joshi M, Horlock D, Lam NT, Gregorevic P, McGee SL, Kaye DM, PLoS One 2014 9 8 e104643

Effect of oxygen on cardiac differentiation in mouse iPS cells: role of hypoxia inducible factor-1 and Wnt/beta-catenin signaling.

Medley TL, Furtado M, Lam NT, Idrizi R, Williams D, Verma PJ, Costa M, Kaye DM, PLoS One 2013 8 11 e80280

Nerve growth factor stimulates cardiac regeneration via cardiomyocyte proliferation in experimental heart failure.

Lam NT, Currie PD, Lieschke GJ, Rosenthal NA, Kaye DM, PLoS One 2012 7 12 e53210

 Featured Books

Cellular Basis for Myocardial Regeneration and Repair. In Heart Failure: A Companion to Braunwald's Heart Disease, 4th Ed.

Ali SR, Lam NT, Sadek HA (2019). Elsevier

Cellular and Molecular Effects of Bioactive Phenolic Compounds in Olives and Olive Oil. In Olive and Olive Oil Bioactive Constituents

Ray NB, Lam NT, Luc R, Bonvino NP, Karagiannis TC (2015). Urbana, AOCS Press

• Haberecht Wildhare-Idea Research Grant
  (2018-2019)

• American Heart Association (2010)