Scholarships & Awards
- Dr. Albert and Dorris Fields Graduate Scholarship in Cardiovascular Physiology
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Scholarship
- Bigelow Book Prize
- Dr. Joe A. Connolly Memorial Award
- United Nations SDGs Recognition Award
- Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Award
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Postgraduate Scholarship – Doctoral
- Ontario Graduate Scholarship
- Peterborough K.M. Hunter Charitable Foundation Graduate Award
- Queen Elizabeth II / Heart&Stroke Foundation of Ontario Graduate Scholarships in Science and Technology
- Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research Doctoral Fellowship
- Dr. John Hepburn Award
- Heart&Stroke Richard Lewar Centre of Excellence Studentship Award
- Banting and Best Canada Graduate Scholarship – CIHR
- Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research Graduate Award
Research Associate –
Frank’s PhD focused on establishing a systems-biology approach to identify new molecular regulators of heart function and therapeutic targets for heart failure. Additionally, he demonstrated for the first time, the biological importance of a membrane protein, REEP5, in regulating heart development and normal heart function. He has published 17 papers throughout his PhD and Frank was a NSERC Postgraduate Scholar, a CIHR Canada Graduate Scholar, and a National Young Leader for the National Student Network.
Education and Professional Experience
Biomedical Data Analyst at BenchSci
(2020 – Present)
Co-Founder and Chief Scientist at Arendi Core Inc.
(2017 – 2019)
Arendi Core is a medical start-up that brings a complete sample-to-result quantitative heart disease diagnostic device to medicine, reducing clinical heart disease diagnosis time by 33% and patient blood requirement by 80%.
Ph.D. in Cardiovascular Physiology
(2015 – 2021)
University of Toronto, Toronto, ON.
Teaching Assistant
(2016 – 2020)
Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON.
Honours Bachelor of Science in Human Physiology and Biology
(2011 – 2015)
University of Toronto, Toronto, ON.
Selected Publications
Bioinformatic analysis of membrane and associated proteins in murine cardiomyocytes and human myocardium
Lee, S. H., Hadipour-Lakmehsari, S., Kim, D. H., Di Paola, M., Kuzmanov, U., Shah, S., … & Gramolini, A. O. (2020). Bioinformatic analysis of membrane and associated proteins in murine cardiomyocytes and human myocardium. Scientific data, 7(1), 1-20.
Membrane proteomic profiling of the heart: past, present, and future
Lee, S. H., Kim, D. H., Kuzmanov, U., & Gramolini, A. O. (2021). Membrane proteomic profiling of the heart: past, present, and future. American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology, 320(1), H417-H423.
REEP5 depletion causes sarco-endoplasmic reticulum vacuolization and cardiac functional defects
Lee, S. H., Hadipour-Lakmehsari, S., Murthy, H. R., Gibb, N., Miyake, T., Teng, A. C., … & Gramolini, A. O. (2020). REEP5 depletion causes sarco-endoplasmic reticulum vacuolization and cardiac functional defects. Nature communications, 11(1), 1-20.
Synapses in the heart: sympathetic neuro-cardiac interaction modulates myocardial remodelling in healthy and diseased myocardium
Lee, S. H., & Kim, D. H. (2019). Synapses in the heart: sympathetic neuro‐cardiac interaction modulates myocardial remodelling in healthy and diseased myocardium. The Journal of physiology, 597(17), 4441-4442.
Stem-cell cardiospheres for myocardial regeneration: advancing cell therapy in myocardial infarction and heart failure
Lee, S. H., Murthy, H. R., & Langburt, D. (2018). Stem‐cell cardiospheres for myocardial regeneration: advancing cell therapy in myocardial infarction and heart failure. The Journal of physiology, 596(17), 3839.
Three-dimensional imaging reveals endo(sarco)plasmic reticulum-containing invaginations within the nucleoplasm of muscle
Lee, S. H., Hadipour-Lakmehsari, S., Miyake, T., & Gramolini, A. O. (2018). Three-dimensional imaging reveals endo (sarco) plasmic reticulum-containing invaginations within the nucleoplasm of muscle. American Journal of Physiology-Cell Physiology, 314(3), C257-C267.
Dietary restriction and aerobic exercise attenuate obesity-induced lymphatic dysfunction
Lee, S. H., & Hadipour‐Lakmehsari, S. (2017). Dietary restriction and aerobic exercise attenuate obesity‐induced lymphatic dysfunction. The Journal of physiology, 595(6), 1855.
Gramolini Lab 