Daria Ilatovskaya, MS, PhD, FAHA

Education and Training

Peter the Great Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University, Physics, BS, 2007
Peter the Great Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University, Physics, MS, 2009
Institute of Cytology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Cellular Biology, PhD, 2012

Academic Appointments

2021 - Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University
2017-2021 - Assistant Professor, Medical University of South Carolina
2015-2017 - Assistant Professor, Medical College of Wisconsin

 

Research Interests

Research interests: water and electrolyte homeostasis, mitochondrial bioenergetics, regulation of ion channel function and their role in the development of cardiorenal pathologies, such as hypertension and polycystic kidney disease, and sex-related differences in these conditions.

Dr. Daria Ilatovskaya joined the Department of Physiology at the Medical College of Georgia at the Augusta Univeristy in July 2021, where she moved from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Dr. Ilatovskaya is an ion channel biophysicist and physiologist by training, she obtained her PhD degree at the Institute of Cytology in St. Petersburg, Russia, and spent her early career years at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Dr. Ilatovskaya studies cardiorenal function, and especially blood pressure control, which is a highly clinically relevant problem. The number of people living with high blood pressure is predicted to be 1.56 billion worldwide by the year 2025. Dr. Ilatovskaya’s research is aimed at advancing our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie kidney and heart disease. The laboratory specializes in investigating the regulation of ion channels and transporters in the different aspects of cardiorenal disorders. Recently, the scope of the lab has been expanded towards the studies of cardiorenal mitochondrial bioenergetics, with a focus on sex differences in pathobiology.

Methods: The lab uses in vivo, ex vivo and in vitro techniques to study physiology using an integrative approach that includes the molecular, cellular, and whole-organism levels. In addition to routine molecular biology, the lab specializes in unique methods, such as single-channel electrophysiology performed on freshly isolated nephron segments and mitochondria, the state-of-the-art in vivo and ex vivo confocal and epifluorescence microscopy, measurements of mitochondrial bioenergetics, chronic blood pressure monitoring and other sophisticated techniques.

Core lab values: solid science, success of our trainees, diversity and inclusion, outreach/advocacy/volunteering, and life balance (last but not least) are the staples at the core of Dr. Ilatovskaya's lab philosophy.