Joseph M. Metzger is Professor and Chair of the Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology at the University of Minnesota’s School of Medicine. He is a member of The Lillehei Heart Institute and holds the Maurice B. Visscher Endowed Land-Grant Chair in Physiology.
Metzger received a Bachelor’s degree in Natural Science from Saint John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota (1980), a Master’s degree in Biology and Exercise Physiology from Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana (1982), a PhD degree in Biology/Physiology under the mentorship of Dr. Robert Fitts from Marquette University Milwaukee, Wisconsin (1985), and performed post doctoral studies with Dr. Richard Moss at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (1991).
The overarching goal of Dr. Metzger’s lab is to seek mechanistic insights into heart function with the aim of translating findings to new therapeutic modalities for remediation of acquired and inherited cardiac diseases. His studies center on genetic, cell, and chemical-based modification of heart performance and include state-of-the-art molecular, genetic, and integrative physiological approaches to unravel the intricacies of myocardial function in health and disease. Dr. Metzger’s contributions to science center on the following topics:
• Genetic engineering of the cardiac sarcomere
• Dystrophin in disease and aging
• Synthetic copolymers as molecular band aids for diseased heart and muscle
• Stem cell-derived cardiac myocytes
