Biography
Dr. Herron is Associate Research Scientist with dual appointments in Internal Medicine-Cardiology and Molecular and Integrative Physiology. Dr. Herron also serves as Director of the Cardiovascular Regeneration Core Laboratory in the Frankel Cardiovascular Center. The Core Laboratory generates patient specific induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and heart cells for high throughput in vitro diagnostics, personalized medication screening, cardiac regeneration research and therapy development. Dr. Herron is co-founder and currently president of CARTOX, LLC a Michigan biotechnology company aimed to commercialize this heart-in-a-dish technology for the drug discovery and toxicology markets.
Dr. Herron earned a Ph.D. in physiology in 2002 from the University of Missouri. After completion of Ph.D. work focused on molecular regulation of heart muscle contraction, Dr. Herron completed a Medical Research Council-sponsored postdoctoral fellowship at Kings College London (2002-2004) in the Department of Molecular Cardiology. From 2004-2007, Dr. Herron completed NIH funded National Research Service Award (NRSA) training in molecular cardiology at the University of Michigan. He has authored over 45 original research articles in peer reviewed journals, serves as a peer reviewer for several scientific journals, including Circulation Research and Scientific Reports, and is an ad hoc reviewer for NIH grant study sections.
Dr. Herron has been a co-author with Prechter Bipolar Research Program faculty on seminal work that described the first bipolar patient-specific stem cell lines and neurons generated for in vitro study. Importantly, that work showed the importance of calcium channel gene mutations and expression in the genetic basis for bipolar depression. Currently, Dr. Herron is creating a bipolar patient “heart in a dish” to study the role that calcium channel gene mutations play in cardiovascular health.