Geoffrey Pitt, MD, PhD

Department / Division:
Medicine / Cardiology

Address:
DUMC 103030
Durham, NC 27710

Appointment Telephone:
919-681-5816

Office Telephone:
919-681-8924

Fax Telephone:
919-613-5145

• MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Maryland), 1993

• Internal Medicine, Stanford University Hospital (California), 1995

• Cardiovascular Disease, Stanford University Hospital (California), 1999

• PhD, Biochemistry, Cellular, and Molecular Biology, Johns Hopkins University (Maryland), 1993

Clinical Interests:
General cardiology with a special interest in inherited cardiovascular diseases and arrhythmias

Research Interests:
Our research focuses on how intracellular Ca²⁺, the ultimate signal of membrane excitability, regulates membrane excitability and the consequent function of excitable cells. We have discovered and described multiple mechanisms that control Ca²⁺ influx through voltage-gated Ca²⁺ channels and feedback mechanisms by which internal calcium regulates other channels that influence Ca²⁺ channel function. The work has entailed structure-function analyses of ion channels and their regulatory subunits and studies of mutations that lead to inherited channelopathies such as cardiac arrhythmias and epilepsy.

Representative Publications:
Thomsen MB, Wang C, Özgen N, Wang H-G, Rosen MR and Pitt GS. The Accessory Subunit KChIP2 Modulates the Cardiac L-Type Calcium Current. Circ Res 104, 1382-1389 (2009). (2009) Abstract

Shah SH, Pitt GS. Genetics of cardiac repolarization. Nat Genet. 2009 Apr;41(4):388-9. (2009) Abstract

Miloushev, V. Z., Levine, J. A., Arbing, M. A., Hunt, J. F., Pitt, G. S., Palmer, A. G. III. Solution Structure of the NaV1.2 C-terminal EF-hand Domain J. Biol. Chem. 284, 6446-6454 (2009) (2009) Abstract

Wang C, Wang HG, Xie H, Pitt GS. Ca2+/CaM controls Ca2+-dependent inactivation of NMDA receptors by dimerizing the NR1 C termini. J Neurosci. 2008 Feb 20;28(8):1865-70. (2008) Abstract

Wang HG, George MS, Kim J, Wang C, Pitt GS. Ca2+/calmodulin regulates trafficking of Ca(V)1.2 Ca2+ channels in cultured hippocampal neurons. J Neurosci. 2007 Aug 22;27(34):9086-93. (2007) Abstract

Pitt GS. Calmodulin and CaMKII as molecular switches for cardiac ion channels. Cardiovasc Res. 2007 Mar 1;73(4):641-7. (2007) Abstract

Pitt B, Pitt GS. Added benefit of mineralocorticoid receptor blockade in the primary prevention of sudden cardiac death. Circulation. 2007 Jun 12;115(23):2976-82; discussion 2982. (2007) Abstract

Seu L, Pitt GS. Dose-dependent and isoform-specific modulation of Ca2+ channels by RGK GTPases. J Gen Physiol. 2006 Nov;128(5):605-13. (2006) Abstract

Pitt GS, Pitt B. Aldosterone, ion channels, and sudden death: another piece of the circle? Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2006 Jun;290(6):H2176-7. (2006) Abstract

Pitt GS, Dun W, Boyden PA. Remodeled cardiac calcium channels. J Mol Cell Cardiol. 2006 Sep;41(3):373-88. (2006) Abstract

Ghosh S, Nunziato DA, Pitt GS. KCNQ1 assembly and function is blocked by long-QT syndrome mutations that disrupt interaction with calmodulin. Circ Res. 2006 Apr 28;98(8):1048-54. (2006) Abstract

George MS, Pitt GS. The real estate of cardiac signaling: location, location, location. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 May 16;103(20):7535-6. (2006) Abstract

Maltez JM, Nunziato DA, Kim J, Pitt GS. Essential Ca(V)beta modulatory properties are AID-independent. Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2005 Apr;12(4):372-7. (2005) Abstract

Hudmon A, Schulman H, Kim J, Maltez JM, Tsien RW, Pitt GS. CaMKII tethers to L-type Ca2+ channels, establishing a local and dedicated integrator of Ca2+ signals for facilitation. J Cell Biol. 2005 Nov 7;171(3):537-47. (2005) Abstract

McGee AW, Nunziato DA, Maltez JM, Prehoda KE, Pitt GS, Bredt DS. Calcium channel function regulated by the SH3-GK module in beta subunits. Neuron. 2004 Apr 8;42(1):89-99. (2004) Abstract

Kim J, Ghosh S, Nunziato DA, Pitt GS. Identification of the components controlling inactivation of voltage-gated Ca2+ channels. Neuron. 2004 Mar 4;41(5):745-54. (2004) Abstract

Kim J, Ghosh S, Liu H, Tateyama M, Kass RS, Pitt GS. Calmodulin mediates Ca2+ sensitivity of sodium channels. J Biol Chem. 2004 Oct 22;279(43):45004-12. (2004) Abstract