Sakthivel Sadayappan, PhD, MBA

Sakthivel Sadayappan, PhD, MBA, is professor and head of the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson. He also serves as associate director of the Sarver Heart Center and holds the Czarina M. & Humberto S. Lopez Endowed Chair for Excellence in Cardiovascular Research.

Dr. Sadayappan is an internationally recognized cardiovascular scientist whose research focuses on the molecular causes of heart failure and inherited muscle disease. His lab studies how cardiac, skeletal and smooth muscles function in health and disease, with a particular focus on myosin binding protein-C, a key protein involved in muscle contraction.

His work aims to better understand, prevent and treat conditions such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, dilated cardiomyopathy, congenital heart disease and heart failure. In recent years, his research has expanded to include skeletal muscle genetic diseases, including distal arthrogryposis and lethal congenital contracture syndrome.

The Sadayappan Lab uses human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes, cardiac organoids, genetically engineered mouse models and gene-targeting approaches to study disease mechanisms and test potential therapies. These approaches include CRISPR-mediated gene correction, AAV-mediated gene therapy and antisense oligonucleotides.

Through collaborations with academic, clinical and pharmaceutical partners, Dr. Sadayappan’s team works to move discoveries from the laboratory toward new therapeutic strategies. Current areas of investigation include small-molecule and peptide-based therapies for heart failure and other muscle diseases.

Dr. Sadayappan joined the University of Arizona in 2024 after serving as professor of internal medicine at the University of Cincinnati, where he held leadership roles in cardiovascular research and rare disease programs. He earned his doctorate in biochemistry from Madurai Kamaraj University in India and completed postdoctoral training at the Max Planck Institute in Germany and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.