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Stefano Morotti, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor in Residence
Locations and Contact
Genome and Biomedical Sciences Building
Genome & Biomedical Sciences Facility
451 Health Sciences Drive
Davis, CA 95616
Phone: 530-752-3200
Additional Numbers
Physician Referrals
Research/Academic Interests
Dr. Morotti's research focuses on the regulation of muscle cells (myocytes) in the cardiovascular system. His overall goal is to identify therapeutic targets, inform treatment strategies, and predict the outcome of pharmacological treatment. To pursue this aim, Dr. Morotti develops biophysically-detailed mathematical models of cardiac and vascular myocyte electrophysiology, ion transport, and signaling, and uses them to quantitatively investigate the cellular mechanisms regulating excitation-contraction coupling in healthy condition and disease.
Division
Pharmacology
Undergraduate School
B.S., Biomedical Engineering, University of Bologna, Italy 2006
Other School
M.S., Biomedical Engineering, University of Bologna, Italy 2009
Other School
Ph.D., Bioengineering, University of Bologna, Italy 2013
Travel Award, UC Davis Academic Federation, 2019
People’s Choice Award, National Institutes of Health SPARC DRC Hackathon, Bethesda MD (USA), December 5-7, 2018
Nomination, UC Davis Award for Excellence in Postdoctoral Research, 2017
Early Career Investigator Travel Award, 35th International Society for Heart Research - North American Section Meeting, Seattle, WA (USA), June 7-10, 2015
To view Dr. Morotti's publications, please click here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1hu1_97i87j5o/bibliography/public/
Heijman J, Zhou X, Morotti S, Molina CE, Abu-Taha IH, Tekook M, Jespersen T, Zhang Y, Dobrev S, Milting H, Gummert J, Karck M, Kamler M, El-Armouche A, Saljic A, Grandi E, Nattel S, Dobrev D. Enhanced Ca2+-Dependent SK-Channel Gating and Membrane Trafficking in Human Atrial Fibrillation. Circ Res. 2023 Mar 17. doi:10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.122.321858. Epub ahead of print. PMID:36927079.
Peters CH, Rickert C, Morotti S, Grandi E, Aronow KA, Beam KG, Proenza C. The funny current If is essential for the fight-or-flight response in cardiac pacemaker cells. J Gen Physiol. 2022 Dec 5;154(12):e202213193. doi:10.1085/jgp.202213193. Epub 2022 Oct 28. PMID:36305844.
Ding Y, Lang D, Yan J, Bu H, Li H, Jiao K, Yang J, Ni H, Morotti S, Le T, Clark KJ, Port J, Ekker SC, Cao H, Zhang Y, Wang J, Grandi E, Li Z, Shi Y, Li Y, Glukhov AV, Xu X. A phenotype-based forward genetic screen identifies Dnajb6 as a sick sinus syndrome gene. Elife. 2022 Oct 18;11:e77327. doi:10.7554/eLife.77327. PMID:36255053.
Zhang X, Smith CER, Morotti S, Edwards AG, Sato D, Louch WE, Ni H, Grandi E. Mechanisms of spontaneous Ca2+ release-mediated arrhythmia in a novel 3D human atrial myocyte model: II Ca2+ -handling protein variation. J Physiol. 2022 Sep 16:10.1113/JP283602. doi:10.1113/JP283602. Epub ahead of print. PMID:36114707.
Zhang X, Ni H, Morotti S, Smith CER, Sato D, Louch WE, Edwards AG, Grandi E. Mechanisms of spontaneous Ca2+ release-mediated arrhythmia in a novel 3D human atrial myocyte model: I. Transverse-axial tubule variation. J Physiol. 2022 Sep 12:10.1113/JP283363. doi:10.1113/JP283363. Epub ahead of print. PMID:36094888.
Morotti S, Liu C, Hegyi B, Ni H, Fogli Iseppe A, Wang L, Pritoni M, Ripplinger CM, Bers DM, Edwards AG, Grandi E. Quantitative cross-species translators of cardiac myocyte electrophysiology: Model training, experimental validation, and applications. Sci Adv. 2021 Nov 19;7(47):eabg0927. doi:10.1126/sciadv.abg0927. Epub 2021 Nov 17. PMID:34788089.
Fogli Iseppe A, Ni H, Zhu S, Zhang X, Coppini R, Yang PC, Srivatsa U, Clancy CE, Edwards AG, Morotti S, Grandi E. Sex-Specific Classification of Drug-Induced Torsade de Pointes Susceptibility Using Cardiac Simulations and Machine Learning. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2021 Aug;110(2):380-391. doi:10.1002/cpt.2240. Epub 2021 Apr 19. PMID:33772748.
Peters CH, Liu PW, Morotti S, Gantz SC, Grandi E, Bean BP, Proenza C. Bidirectional flow of the funny current (If) during the pacemaking cycle in murine sinoatrial node myocytes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Jul 13;118(28):e2104668118. doi:10.1073/pnas.2104668118. PMID:34260402.
Morotti S, Ni H, Peters CH, Rickert C, Asgari-Targhi A, Sato D, Glukhov AV, Proenza C, Grandi E. Intracellular Na+ Modulates Pacemaking Activity in Murine Sinoatrial Node Myocytes: An In Silico Analysis. Int J Mol Sci. 2021 May 26;22(11):5645. doi:10.3390/ijms22115645. PMID:34073281.