Dr. Zaragoza attended medical school and received his Ph.D. in Genetics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio. He completed his residency training program and served his fellowship at UC Irvine Medical Center, Irvine, California.

Dr. Zaragoza is a member of the American Society of Human Genetics, Western Society for Pediatric Research, American Heart Association, European Society of Cardiology-Myocardial Disease Group and United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation (UMDF).

Research

Dr. Zaragoza’s current research projects and grant funding are in the areas of human genetics, medical genetics, genomics, DNA variation, inherited cardiovascular diseases, cardiomyopathy, heart failure, congenital heart disease, arrhythmia, sudden cardiac death, and mitochondrial disease.

Dr. Zaragoza’s research focuses on DNA variation and inherited cardiovascular diseases: cardiomyopathy and heart failure, congenital heart disease, arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death.

One major area explores the relationship between cardiomyopathy/heart failure and mitochondrial dysfunction due to nuclear DNA (nDNA) mutations and/or mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations. As the mitochondrion is essential for cardiogenesis and function by providing energy and regulating apoptosis, mitochondrial dysfunction may play an essential role in cardiovascular disease pathogenesis.

The goal is to understand the pathophysiological mechanisms of cardiomyopathies and heart failure using animal models and studies in patients and families. The specific aims include: (1) examining cardiac-specific mitochondrial pathophysiology in mice deficient in the adenine nucleotide translocator isoforms (Ant1 or Ant2), key mitochondrial membrane proteins and (2) identifying the specific genes that may cause or modify cardiomyopathies in humans. These studies will provide valuable insight into cardiomyopathies and its progression to heart failure leading to a greater understanding of the underlying pathophysiology.

Publications

1. Zaragoza MV, Jacobs PA, James RS, Rogan P, Sherman S, Hassold T. (1994) Nondisjunction of human acrocentric chromosomes:studies of 432 trisomic fetuses and liveborns. Hum Genet 94:411-417.

2. Hassold T, Abruzzo M, Adkins K, Griffin D, Merrill M, Millie E, Saker D, Shen J, Zaragoza MV, (1996) Human aneuploidy: incidence, origin and etiology. Environ Mol Mut 28:167-175.

3. Keep D, Zaragoza MV, Hassold T, Redline RW. (1996) Very early complete hydatidiform mole. Hum Pathol 27:708-713.

4. Zaragoza MV, Keep D, Genest DR, Hassold T, Redline RW. (1997) Early complete hydatidiform moles contain inner cell mass derivatives. Am J Med Genet 70:273-277.

5. Griffin DK, Millie EA, Redline RW, Hassold TJ, Zaragoza MV, (1997) Cytogenetic analysis of spontaneous abortions: comparison of techniques and assessment of the incidence of confined placental mosaicism. Am J Med Genet 72:297-301.

6. Redline RW, Hassold T, Zaragoza MV, (1998) Prevalence of the partial molar phenotype in triploidy of maternal and paternal origin. Hum Pathol 29:505-511.

7. Redline RW, Hassold T, Zaragoza MV, (1998) Determinants of villous trophoblastic hyperplasia in spontaneous abortions. Mod Pathol 11:762-768.

8. Zaragoza MV, Millie E, Redline RW, Hassold TJ. (1998) Studies of non-disjunction in trisomies 2, 7, 15, and 22:does the parental origin of trisomy influence placental morphology? J Med Genet 35:924 931.

9. Redline RW, Zaragoza MV, Hassold T. (1999) Prevalence of developmental and inflammatory lesions in nonmolar first-trimester spontaneous abortions. Hum Pathol 30:93-100.

10. Zaragoza MV, Millie E, Chakravarti A, Surti U, Redline RW, Hassold TJ. (2000) Origin and phenotype of triploidy in spontaneous abortions: predominance of diandry and its association with the partial hydatidiform mole. Am J Hum Genet. 66:1807-20.

11. Zaragoza MV, Lewis LE, Wang E, Sun G, Li L, Said-Salman I, Feucht L, Huang T. (2004) Identification of the TBX5 transactivating domain and the nuclear localization signal.Gene 330:9-18.

12. Pop, R, Zaragoza MV, Gaudette M, Bocian ME, Scherer G. (2005) A homozygous nonsense mutation in SOX9 in the dominant disorder campomelic dysplasia: a case of mitotic gene conversion. Hum Genet. 117:43-53.

13. Zaragoza MV, Arbustini E, Narula J. (2007) Noncompaction of the left ventricle: primary cardiomyopathy with an elusive genetic etiology. Curr Opin Pediatr 19:619-627.

14. Lindvall LE, Kormeili T, Chen E, Ramirez MM, Martignetti JA, Zaragoza MV, Dyson SW. (2008) Infantile systemic hyalinosis: case report and review of the literature. J Am Acad Dermatol 58:303-307.

15. Zaragoza MV, Fass J, Diegoli M, Lin D, Arbustini E. (2010) Mitochondrial DNA Variant Discovery and Evaluation in Human Cardiomyopathies through Next-generation Sequencing, PLoS ONE 5(8): e12295. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0012295

16. Zaragoza MV, Brandon MC, Diegoli M, Arbustini E, Wallace DC. (2010) Mitochondrial cardiomyopathy: how to identify candidate pathogenic mutations by complete mitochondrial DNA sequencing, MITOMASTER and phylogenetic analysis. European Journal of Human Genetics. In Press. Advance online publication 27 October 2010; doi: 10.1038/ejhg.2010.169

17. Narula N*, Zaragoza MV*, Sengupta PP, Li P, Haider N, Verjans J, Waymire K, Vannan M, Wallace DC. (2010) Adenine Nucleotide Translocase 1 Deficiency Results in Dilated Cardiomyopathy with Severe Defects in Myocardial Mechanics, Histopathology, and Activation of Apoptosis. *Co-first authors. The Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC): Cardiovascular Imaging. In Press.

Dr.Tran attended medical school at the University of Rochester, New York. She completed her internship and residency training at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. She served her fellowship in child neurology at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital and her fellowship in clinical neurophysiology at University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio.

Dr. Tran is a current member of the American Academy of Neurology. She speaks fluent Vietnamese. Dr. Tran’s philosophy of care centers on teamwork.

“It’s teamwork between myself and the family/primary caregiver to provide the best care for my patients.” – Dr. Lily Tran

Hours by Specialty

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Hours by Specialty

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Please contact Zach Moonitz, Director of Special Events and Corporate Relations CHOC Foundation, at zmoonitz@choc.org for futher information.

Please contact Zach Moonitz, Director of Special Events and Corporate Relations CHOC Foundation, at zmoonitz@choc.org for futher information.