Timothy Kamp, MD, PHD

Position title: Professor, Medicine; Director, Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center

Email: tjk@medicine.wisc.edu

Phone: (608) 263-1172

Organ System/Disease Focus:
Cardiac, ischemic heart disease, heart failure, arrhythmias
Aligned Research Focus:
Cardiogenesis from embryonic stem cells
Tim Kamp headshot

Pubmed

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Research Description

Our research focuses on embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and their applications to cardiovascular research and potentially cardioregenerative medicine.  Our initial work with human ESCs demonstrated that these cells differentiate in embryoid bodies to form spontaneously contracting cardiomyocytes.  Electrophysiological characterization of the hESC-derived cardiomyocytes revealed that different types of cardiomyocytes differentiate including atrial, ventricular and nodal type cells.  Current research is focused on understanding cardiogenesis in the ES cell system and harnessing this process to efficiently obtain defined populations of hESC-derived cardiomycytes.  The human cardiomyocytes obtained from hESCs provide a powerful system to create disease models and to evaluate the cellular electrophysiological and functional properties of human cardiomyocytes at different stages of development.  Other projects in the laboratory examine the use of ESCs and their derivatives in cellular therapies for heart disease.  Myocardial infarction models in mice and large animals have been developed to pilot cellular therapies first employing mouse ESCs and derivatives.  Our initial studies have provided proof of principal evidence that mouse ESCs can induce regeneration in infarcted mouse heart.  Ongoing research focuses on identifying optimal cellular populations derived from ESCs for cardiac therapy, determining the best delivery strategies, and overcoming challenges related to immune rejection of allogeneic cells.

Selected References:
  • He J-Q, Ma Y, Lee Y, Thomson JA, and Kamp TJ (2003). Human embryonic stem cells develop into multiple types of cardiac myocytes: Action potential characterization. Circ Res 93:32-9.
  • Singla DK, Hacker TA, Ma L, Douglas PS, Sullivan R, Lyons GE, Kamp TJ (2006). Transplantation of embryonic stem cells to the infarcted mouse heart: formation of multiple cell types. J Molec Cell Cardiol 40:195-200.
  • Kamp TJ and Lyons GE (2007), “Embryonic Stem Cells and Cardiogenesis.” In Cardiac Regeneration and Stem Cell Therapy, Editors A Leri, P Anversa, and W Frishman, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK.
  • Singla, DK., Lyons, GE, and Kamp TJ (2007). Transplanted embryonic stem cells following mouse myocardial infarction inhibit apoptosis and cardiac remodeling. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 293:H1308-14.
  • Raval, A., T. Kamp and L. Hogle Cellular Therapies for Heart Disease: Unveiling the Ethical and Public Policy Challenges. 2007. J of Molecular & Cellular Cardiology. doi:10.1016/j.yjmcc.2007.11.005