Chelko Lab

Stephen Chelko, Ph.D.

Florida State University
College of Medicine
1115 West Call Street
Tallahassee, FL 32306-4300

Dr. Chelko's Faculty Profile

Research Interests

I study a rare inherited heart disease called - Arrhythmogenic Cardiomyopathy (ACM). You probably have heard of it by a different name on the news - Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD) in Young Athletes. Sadly, this disease is one of the most arrhythmogenic forms of heart disease and a leading cause of SCD in the young and in athletes. I use a lot of approaches to study the different signaling mechanisms that are abnormally regulated in ACM, but one main approach my laboratory uses is genetically modified mice that harbor the same pathogenic gene mutations seen in patients with ACM. Now that I have these ACM mice in hand, I test the efficacy of commercially available and FDA-approved drugs on the prevention of cardiomyopathy in ACM mice. Not only at rest, but in response to exercise. After all these drug and exercise studies I then perform functional studies (Echos and ECGs) to see if certain drugs can mitigate the deleterious impact of exercise on ACM pathogenesis. Additionally, my lab uses a variety of biochemical/molecular biology experiments such as protein, mRNA, DNA, and histology.

Current Research Projects

Current Laboratory Members

Selected References