Rengasayee Veeraraghavan, Ph.D., FAHA, FHRS

Professor, Department of Pharmacology

Summary

I am, in equal parts, a biomedical engineer, a cardiac physiologist, and microscopist. My laboratory’s goal is to understand the structural underpinnings of electrical signal propagation in the heart, and how their disruption leads to potentially life-threatening irregular heartbeats. As we and others have demonstrated over recent years, the heart’s physiology at cellular and organ levels is governed by the behavior of handfuls of proteins organized into nano-machines – structures 10,000 times smaller than the width of human hair. Our biomedical research seeks to understand the protein composition and structural properties of different nano-machines within muscle cells of normal and diseased hearts. We leverage the resulting insights to develop new treatments for heart disease, which will restore healthy nanostructure and thereby, resolve rather than just manage heart disease. This work relies on cutting-edge light and electron microscopy techniques to visualize the protein nano-machines, and computational image analysis techniques to precisely and reliably measure the difference between health and disease at the nano level. A second focus of our research is the development of new imaging and image analysis tools to meet our research needs.

Education

  • Tech, Chemical Engineering, Anna University, Chennai, India.
  • D., Biomedical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

Publications

  • Moise N, Weinberg SH, Radwanski PB, Veeraraghavan R. The investigative power of direct and indirect correlative methods. J Precision Med. 2026 May 21. doi: 10.1016/j.premed.2026.100044.
  • Tarasov M, Ammon A, Wirth JO, Hampton C, Radwanski PB, Veeraraghavan R. Transient homomeric interactions underlie emergent biophysical properties of voltage-gated sodium channel clusters: Implications for health and disease. Nat Commun. 2026 May 8. doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-72387-8.
  • Moise N, Struckman HL, Smyth JW, Hoeker GS, Poelzing S, Veeraraghavan R, Weinberg SH. Intercalated disk structure, tissue heterogeneity and ion channel distribution modulate conduction and local calcium influx. J Physiol. 2026 Feb 24. doi: 10.1113/JP290135.
  • McCallinhart PE, Strawser C, Garfinkle EAR, Navarro JB, McAllister C, Vetter TA, O’Phelan A, Mardis ER, Mezache L, Veeraraghavan R, Miller KE, Trask AJ. Transcriptomic Profiling of the Type 2 Diabetic Coronary Microcirculation Revealed Heterogeneity Varied by Regions of the Heart. Basic Res Cardiol. 2025 Dec;120(6):1109-1129. doi: 10.1007/s00395-025-01144-7.
  • Selimi Z, Tarasov M, Meng X, Dias P, Moise B, Veeraraghavan R, Radwański PB. Selectivity filter mutation in NaV1.5 promotes ventricular tachycardia. JACC Clin Electrophysiol. 2026 Feb 5:S2405-500X(25)01118-1. doi: 10.1016/j.jacep.2025.12.033.
  • Mezache L, Soltisz AM, Tili E, Nuovo GJ, Veeraraghavan R. SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein-induced Inflammation Underlies Proarrhythmia in COVID-19. Sci Rep. 2025 Sep 30;15(1):33991. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-12807-9.
  • Bogdanov V, Soltisz AM, Sakuta G, Beard C, Hernandez-Orengo B, Tikunova S, Xu X, Hund TJ, Veeraraghavan R, Davis JP, Györke S. Spatially distinct distribution of the three calmodulin mRNAs in cardiac myocytes underlies compartmentalized calmodulin-dependent signaling. Cardiovasc Res. 2025 Jul 8;121(7):1052-1065. doi: 10.1093/cvr/cvaf059.
  • Peretto G, Rizzo S, Menegon A, Villatore A, Veeraraghavan R, Vignale D, Castoldi V, Perani L, Canu T, Panzeri MC, Del Rosso S, Norata R, Rocchi M, Della Barbera M, Rossi E, Cursi M, Bergamaschi A, Campochiaro C, De Luca G, Rasponi M, Di Resta C, Palmisano A, Carrera P, Muzio L, Pedrocchi ALG, Leocani L, Lazzeroni D, Sanvito F, Sala S, Dagna L, Camici PG, Martino G, Fairweather D, Caforio ALP, Basso C, Esposito A, Cooper Jr. LT, Della Bella P. Intercalated Disk Abnormalities are Linked to Arrhythmias in Inflammatory Cardiomyopathy. JACC Clin Electrophysiol. 2025 Apr 4.
  • Dias P, Meng X, Selimi Z, Struckman HS, Veeraraghavan R, Radwański PB, Lamotrigine promotes reentrant ventricular tachycardia in murine hearts. Epilepsia. Epilepsia. 2025 Jan 30.
  • Struckman HL, Moise N, Vanslembrouck B, Rothacker N, Chen Z, van Hengel J, Weinberg SH, Veeraraghavan R. Indirect Correlative Light and Electron Microscopy (iCLEM): A Novel Pipeline for Multiscale Quantification of Structure from Molecules to Organs. Microsc Microanal. 2024 Mar 25.
  • Soltisz AM, Craigmile PF, Veeraraghavan R. Spatial Pattern Analysis using Closest Events (SPACE) – A Nearest Neighbor Point Pattern Analysis Framework for Assessing Spatial Relationships from Image Data. Microsc Microanal. 2024 Mar 18.
  • King DR, Demirtas M, Tarasov M, Struckman HL, Meng X, Nassal D, Moise N, Miller A, Min D, Soltisz AM, Anne MNK, Wagnon JL, Weinberg SH, Hund TJ, Veeraraghavan R, Radwański PB. Cardiac-specific deletion of Scn8a mitigates Dravet syndrome-associated sudden death in adults. JACC Clin Electrophysiol. 2024 Feb 15.
  • Adams, W.P., Raisch T.B., Zhao Y., Davalos R., Barrett S., King D.R., Bain C.B., Colucci-Chang K., Blair G.A., Hanlon A., Lozano A., Veeraraghavan R., Wan X., Deschenes I., Smyth J.W., Hoeker G.S., Gourdie R.G., Poelzing S. Extracellular perinexal separation is a principal determinant of cardiac conduction. Circ Res. 2023 Sep 29;133(8):658-673.
  • Mezache L, Soltisz AM, Johnstone SR, Isakson BE, Veeraraghavan R. Vascular Endothelial Barrier Protection Prevents Atrial Fibrillation by Preserving Cardiac Nanostructure. JACC Clin Electrophysiol. 2023 Nov 8:S2405-500X(23)00804-6.
  • Struckman HL, Moise N, King DR, Soltisz A, Buxton A, Dunlap I, Chen Z, Radwański PB, Weinberg SH, Veeraraghavan R. Unraveling Chamber-specific Differences in Intercalated Disc Ultrastructure and Molecular Organization and Their Impact on Cardiac Conduction. JACC Clin Electrophysiol. 2023 Jul 12:S2405-500X(23)00387-0.
  • Bonilla IM, Baine S, Pokrass A, Mariángelo JIE, Kalyanasundaram A, Bogdanov V, Mezache L, Sakuta G, Beard CM, Belevych A, Tikunova S, Terentyeva R, Terentyev D, Davis J, Veeraraghavan R, Carnes CA, Györke S. STIM1 ablation impairs exercise-induced physiological cardiac hypertrophy and dysregulates autophagy in mouse hearts. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2023 May 1;134(5):1287-1299.
  • Tarasov M*, Struckman HL*, Olgar Y*, Soltisz AM, Miller A, Bogdanov V, Györke S, Veeraraghavan R, Radwański PB. NaV1.6 dysregulation within myocardial T-tubules by D96V calmodulin enhances proarrhythmic sodium/calcium mishandling. J Clin Invest. 2023 Feb 23:e152071. *Co-first authors. [Featured on journal cover]
  • Che J, DePalma T, Sivakumar H, Mezache L, Tallman MM, Venere M, Swindle-Reilly K, Veeraraghavan R, Skardal A. αCT1 Peptide Sensitizes Glioma Cells to Temozolomide in a Glioblastoma Organoid Platform. Biotechnol Bioeng. 2023 Apr;120(4):1108-1119.
  • Mezache L, Nuovo GJ, Suster D, Tili E, Awad H, Radwański PB, Veeraraghavan R. Histologic, viral, and molecular correlates of heart disease in fatal COVID-19. Annals of Diagnostic Pathology. 2022:151983.
  • Ortega-Pineda L, Sunyecz A, Rincon-Benavides MA, Salazar- Puerta AI, Alzate-Correa D, Mezache L, Struckman HL, Duarte- Sanmiguel S, Deng B, Dodd D, Lawrence W, Moore J, Veeraraghavan R, Nelson MT, Gallego-Perez D, Higuita-Castro. Designer extracellular vesicles modulate pro-neuronal cell responses and improve intracranial retention. Adv Healthc Mater. 2022 Mar;11(5):e2100805.
  • Bogdanov V*, Soltisz AM*, Moise N, Ivanova M, Andreev I, Skuta G, Weinberg SH, Davis JP, Veeraraghavan R†, Györke S†. Distributed synthesis of sarcolemmal and sarcoplasmic reticulum membrane proteins in cardiac myocytes. Basic Res Cardiol. 2021 Oct 28;116(1):63. *Co-first authors. †Co-corresponding authors.
  • Strauss RE, Mezache L, Veeraraghavan R, Gourdie RG. The Cx43 Carboxyl-Terminal Mimetic Peptide alphaCT1 Protects Endothelial Barrier Function in a ZO1 Binding-Competent Manner. Biomolecules 2021, 11(8), 1192.
  • ·Nowak MB, Veeraraghavan R, Poelzing S, Weinberg SH. Cellular Size, Gap Junctions, and Sodium Channel Properties Govern Developmental Changes in Cardiac Conduction. Front Physiol. 2021 Oct 25;12:731025.
  • Moise N, Struckman HL, Dagher C, Veeraraghavan R, Weinberg SH. Intercalated disk nanoscale structure regulates cardiac conduction. J Gen Physiol. 2021 Aug 2;153(8):e202112897.
  • Mezache L, Struckman HL, Greer-Short A, Baine S, Györke S, Radwański PB, Hund TJ, Veeraraghavan R. Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Promotes Atrial Arrhythmias by Inducing Acute Intercalated Disk Remodeling. Sci Rep. 2020 Nov 24. 10 (1), 1-14.
  • Baine S, Thomas J, Bonilla I, Ivanova M, Li J, Veeraraghavan R, Radwański PB, Carnes C, Györke S. Muscarinic-dependent PKG phosphorylation of the cardiac ryanodine receptor is mediated by PI3K/AKT/nNOS Signaling. J Biol Chem. 2020 Aug 14;295(33):11720-11728.
  • Munger MA, Olğar Y, Koleske M, Struckman HL, Mandroli J, Lou Q, Bonilla I, Kim K, Mondragon RR, Priori SG, Volpe P, Valdivia HH, Biskupiak J, Carnes CA, Veeraraghavan R, Györke S, Radwański PB. Tetrodotoxin-sensitive neuronal-type Na+ Channels: A Novel and Druggable Target for Prevention of Atrial Fibrillation. J Am Heart Assoc. 2020 Jun 2;9(11):e015119.
  • Struckman HL, Baine S, Thomas J, Mezache L, Mykytyn K, Györke S, Radwański PB, Veeraraghavan R, Super-resolution Imaging Using Novel High Fidelity Antibody Reveals Close Association of Neuronal Sodium Channel NaV1.6 with Ryanodine Receptors in Cardiac Muscle. Microsc Microanal. 2020 Jan 14:1-9. [Featured on journal cover]
  • Bonilla IM, Belevych AE, Baine S, Stepanov A, Mezache L, Bodnar T, Liu B, Volpe P, Priori S, Weisleder N, Sakuta G, Carnes CA, Radwański PB, Veeraraghavan R*, Gyorke S. Enhancement of Cardiac Store Operated Calcium Entry (SOCE) within Novel Intercalated Disk Microdomains in Arrhythmic Disease. Sci Rep. 2019 Jul 15;9(1):10179. *Co-corresponding author
  • Veeraraghavan R*, Hoeker GS, Alvarez-Laviada A, Hoagland D, Wan X, King DR, Sanchez-Alonso J, Chen C, Jourdan J, Isom LL, Deschenes I, Smyth J, Gorelik J, Poelzing S, Gourdie RG. The adhesion function of the sodium channel beta subunit (β1) contributes to cardiac action potential propagation. Elife. 2018 Aug 14;7:e37610. *Co-corresponding author
  • Koleske M, Bonilla I, Thomas J, Zaman N, Baine S, Knollmann B, Veeraraghavan R, Györke S, Radwański PB, TTX-sensitive Nav Contribute to Early and Delayed Afterdepolarizations in Long QT Arrhythmia Models, J Gen Physiol. 2018 Jul 2;150(7):991-1002.
  • Raisch TB, Yanoff MS, Larsen TR, Farooqui MA, King DA, Veeraraghavan R, Gourdie RG, Baker JW, Arnold WS, AlMahameed ST, Poelzing S. Intercalated Disc Extracellular Nanodomain Expansion in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation. Front Physiol. 2018 May 4;9:398.
  • Veeraraghavan R*, Lin J, Keener JP, Gourdie RG, Poelzing S. Potassium Channels in the Cx43 Gap Junction Perinexus Modulate Ephaptic Coupling: An Experimental and Modeling Study, Pflugers Arch. 2016 Oct;468(10):1651-61. *Co-corresponding author
  • Veeraraghavan R*, Gourdie RG. Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy-based Relative Localization Analysis (STORM-RLA) for Quantitative Nanoscale Assessment of Spatial Protein Organization. Mol Biol Cell. 2016 Nov 7;27(22):3583-3590. *Co-corresponding author
  • Radwański PB, Ho HT, Veeraraghavan R, Brunello L, Liu B, Beleyvich AE, Unudurthi SD, Makara MA, Priori SG, Volpe P, Armoundas AA, Dillmann WH, Knollmann BC, Mohler PJ, Hund TJ, Györke S. Neuronal Na+ Channels Are Integral Components of Pro-Arrhythmic Na+/Ca2+ Signaling Nanodomain That Promotes Cardiac Arrhythmias During β-Adrenergic Stimulation. JACC Basic Transl Sci. 2016 Jun;1(4):251-266.
  • Veeraraghavan R, Lin J, Hoeker GS, Keener JP, Gourdie RG, Poelzing S. Sodium Channels in the Cx43 Gap Junction Perinexus May Constitute a Cardiac Ephapse: An Experimental and Modeling Study, Pflugers Arch. 2015 Oct;467(10):2093-105.
  • Radwański PB, Brunello L, Veeraraghavan R, Ho H, Lou Q, Makara MA, Belevych AE, Anghelescu M, Priori SG, Volpe P, Hund TJ, Janssen PM, Mohler PJ, Bridge JH, Poelzing S, Györke S. Neuronal Na+ Channel Blockade Suppresses Arrhythmogenic Diastolic Ca2+ Release. Cardiovasc Res. 2015 Apr 1;106(1):143-52.
  • Veeraraghavan R, Larsen AP, Torres NS, Grunnet M, Poelzing S. Potassium channel activators differentially modulate the effect of sodium channel blockade on cardiac conduction. Acta Physiol (Oxf). 2013 Feb;207(2):280-9.
  • Veeraraghavan R, Salama M, Poelzing S. Interstitial Volume Modulates the Conduction Velocity- Gap Junction Relationship. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2012 Jan 1;302(1):H278-86.
  • Radwański P, Veeraraghavan R, Poelzing S. Cytosolic Calcium Accumulation and Delayed Repolarization Associated with Ventricular Arrhythmias in Guinea Pig Model of Andersen-Tawil Syndrome, Heart Rhythm. 2010 Oct;7(10):1428-1435. Epub 2010 Apr 7.
  • Poelzing S, Smoot A, Veeraraghavan R, Novel X-Ray Attenuation Mechanism: Role of Inter-Atomic Distance, Med Phys. 2008 Oct; 35(10):4386-4395.
  • Veeraraghavan R, Poelzing S. Mechanisms Underlying Increased Right Ventricular Conduction Sensitivity to Flecainide Challenge. Cardiovasc. Res. 2008 Mar 1;77(4):749-56. Epub 2007 Dec 4
  • Poelzing S, Veeraraghavan R. Heterogeneous Ventricular Chamber Response to Hypokalemia and Inward Rectifier Potassium Channel Blockade underlies Bifurcated T-wave in Guinea Pig, Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, 2007 Jun;292(6):H3043-51. Epub 2007 Feb 16.

Books / Chapters Published

  • King DR, Sedovy M, Mezache L, Radwański PB, Johnstone SR, Veeraraghavan R. 2022. Cell-Cell Communication in the Vascular Endothelium. Cardiovascular Signaling in Health and Disease. Pages: TBD. Editors: Hund TJ and Parinandi NL. Springer Publishers, New York, New York.
  • Veeraraghavan, R., Hund, T.J. 2020. Oxidant-Induced Models of Vascular Leak. Pages 95-108, In: Measuring Oxidants and Oxidative Stress in Biological Systems. Editors: Berliner LJ and Parinandi NL. Springer Publishers, New York, New York.
  • Kodali, S.T., Kotha, S.R., Kufmann, P.A., Yenigalla, A., Veeraraghavan, R., Pannu, S., Hund, T.J., Satoskar, A.R., McDaniel, J., Parinandi, N.L. 2020. Oxidative Lipidomics - Analysis of Oxidized Lipids and Lipid Peroxidation in Biological Systems with Relevance to Health & Disease. Pages 61-94, In: Measuring Oxidants and Oxidative Stress in Biological Systems. Editors: Berliner LJ and Parinandi NL. Springer Publishers, New York, New York.