Page 5 - CBAC Newsletter 2015

David Yue, M.D., Ph.D. died suddenly on December 23, 2014 from cardiac arrest while work-
ing in his lab; he was 57. David was a professor of biomedical engineering and neuroscience
and co-director of the Ph.D. program in biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
He received his MD and PhD from Johns Hopkins, under the guidance of Kiichi Sagawa. David
and his Calcium Signals Laboratory focused on understanding the regulation of voltage-gated
calcium (CaV ) channels. Early on, they provided novel insights into calcium dependent inacti-
vation (CDI) of L-type calcium channels (CaV1.2), which are prevalent in cardiac cells. This was
followed by seminal work on the role of calmodulin (CaM) in this process, revealing it to be the
Ca2+ sensor for CDI. This important discovery provided a strong basis for what has continued
to evolve and become a lifetime pursuit of mechanistic understanding, at multiple scales and
using multiple approaches, of calcium signaling in general and Ca2+-dependent regulation
of CaV channels in particular. In the context of cardiac arrhythmia, they demonstrated that
impaired CDI of CaV1.2 can result in very long action potential duration, thus identifying a
possible mechanistic basis for the long QT syndrome in patients with certain CaM mutations.
In recognition of his ground breaking scientific discoveries, David received the Kenneth S.
Cole Award from the membrane biophysics subgroup of the Biophysical Society. David was
extremely creative in everything he did, be it research, teaching, or lecturing in scientific con-
ferences. He was a master communicator, with unparalleled talent for explaining complex con-
cepts in a clear manner that made them simple….- often using analogies from more accessible
and common experiences. He had an infectious passion and love for science and the process
of scientific discovery, with never ending curiosity and drive “to understand”. I saw him last
when he visited us at Washington University not too long before his death. Our long meeting
was enjoyable and stimulating on many fronts (as always), including speculation on the possi-
ble role of CaM in regulating cardiac potassium channels, a discussion of experimental versus
mathematical modeling approaches in science, and inevitably music - I forgot to mention that
David was an accomplished pianist as well.

Yoram Rudy, Ph.D., F.A.H.A, F.H.R.S.
Director