Dr. Matthew L. Springer received his BA from the University of California, Berkeley in 1985 and his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1992.  He did postdoctoral research at Stanford and continued his research there as a senior scientist until joining the UCSF faculty in 2003, where he is currently one of two non-clinicians on the faculty of the Division of Cardiology.  The close juxtaposition of his basic research background with the clinical cardiologists in the Division has resulted in an active translational research program. 

Dr. Springer's research interests include cell therapy and gene therapy approaches to studying cardiovascular disease, with the goals of exploring potential treatments and understanding underlying mechanisms involved in angiogenesis, vascular function, and treatments for myocardial infarction.  The laboratory is studying differential responses of cardiac and skeletal muscle to angiogenic gene therapy in mice, focusing on effects of VEGF and pleiotrophin on the vasculature and on the localized protein profile in the tissue.  Further interests center in the therapeutic effects of bone marrow cell implantation into the heart after myocardial infarction, using an ultrasound-guided injection approach that they have developed in collaboration with the Yeghiazarians lab, with a special emphasis on the therapeutic implications of the age and cardiac disease status of the cell donor.  Similarly, the lab is studying the effects of age and disease on circulating endothelial progenitor cells, with a focus on the roles of endothelial nitric oxide synthase and nitric oxide in the function of these cells. Lastly, they have developed a rat model of endothelium-dependent flow-mediated vasodilation, and are using it to examine mechanisms underlying vascular reactivity and how they are affected by cigarette smoke exposure and dietary flavanols.

Curriculum Vitae (pdf)

Laboratory of Molecular Cardiology