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Martin Dominguez

Martin Dominguez, MD, PhD

Research Assistant Professor
School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems

Office: LeBow Engineering 437
Email: mhd47@drexel.edu

Bio

Dr. Martin Hoeller Dominguez is a cardiologist-scientist and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Drexel University whose work bridges developmental biology, cardiovascular pathophysiology, and advanced imaging. A graduate of the Yale M.D./Ph.D. program, he completed his doctoral studies in neurobiology under Dr. Pasko Rakic, where he identified transcriptional programs governing cortical neuron subtype specification. This early work on gene-regulated cell fate decisions laid the conceptual foundation for his later studies of cellular plasticity in the heart. Following internal medicine residency at Columbia and cardiology fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco, Dr. Dominguez pursued postdoctoral research at Gladstone Institutes with Dr. Benoit Bruneau, developing 4D light-sheet microscopy and computational reconstruction methods to map cardiac progenitor behaviors during morphogenesis. He later joined Dr. Mark Kahn’s laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania, where he uncovered connections between Klf2/4 transcription factors in cardiac fibroblasts and mechanical load, providing new insight into ventricular remodeling. Dr. Dominguez’s current research, supported by NIH and foundation awards integrates genomics, biomechanics, and imaging to uncover how mechanical cues shape cardiac adaptation and disease. As a board-certified non-invasive cardiologist with interests in ultrasound and nuclear imaging, he remains closely connected to patient care. His long-term goal is to translate mechanobiologic principles into therapeutic strategies for heart failure and myocardial repair, uniting basic discovery with clinical cardiology to improve outcomes for patients with cardiovascular disease.

Education

  • BS, Yale University, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, 2004
  • MD/PhD Yale University, Neurobiology, 2013
  • Internal Medicine Residency at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia, 2013-2016
  • Cardiology Fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), 2016–2019
  • Cardiology T32 Training Grant Postdoctoral Research, Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania, 2020-Present

Research Interests

I develop and apply advanced 4D live imaging and computational approaches in mouse models to uncover how mechanical forces and mechanotransduction pathways regulate cardiovascular development, tissue remodeling, and disease.

Research Keywords: 4D live imaging, Light sheet microscopy, Multiphoton microscopy, Cardiovascular biology, Mechanobiology, Mechanotransduction, Cardiac fibroblasts, Tissue remodeling, Mouse genetic models, Computational image analysis, Systems-level cell dynamics.

Publications

Kathiriya IS, Dominguez MH, Rao KS, Muncie-Vasic JM, Devine WP, Hu KM, Hota SK, Garay BI, Quintero D, Goyal P, Matthews MN, Thomas R, Sukonnik T, Miguel-Perez D, Winchester S, Brower EF, Forjaz A, Wu PH, Wirtz D, Kiemen AL, Bruneau BG, "A disrupted compartment boundary underlies abnormal cardiac patterning and congenital heart defects." Nat Cardiovasc Res. 2026 Jan;5(1):67-83. doi: 10.1038/s44161-025-00755-6. Epub 2025 Dec 29. PubMed PMID: 41461901; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC12811143.

Pace JA, Goddard LM, Hong CC, Wang L, Yang J, Chen M, Xu Y, Dominguez MH, Gao S, Chen X, Mericko-Ishizuka P, Tan C, Kume T, Yu W, Tan K, Hancock WW, Ferrari G, Kahn ML, "Hemodynamic forces prevent myxomatous valve disease in mice through KLF2/4 signaling." J Clin Invest. 2025 Jun 16;135(12). doi: 10.1172/JCI186593. eCollection 2025 Jun 16. PubMed PMID: 40519164; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC12165810.

Dominguez MH, Muncie-Vasic JM, Bruneau BG, "4D light sheet imaging, computational reconstruction, and cell tracking in mouse embryos." STAR Protoc. 2025 Mar 21;6(1):103515. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2024.103515. Epub 2025 Jan 2. PubMed PMID: 39754721; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11754511.

Chen X, Tober J, Dominguez M, Tang AT, Bockman J, Yang J, Mani S, Lee CN, Chen M, Thillaikumaran T, Mericko-Ishizuka P, Mainigi M, Speck NA, Kahn ML, "Lineage tracing studies suggest that the placenta is not a de novo source of hematopoietic stem cells." PLoS Biol. 2025 Jan;23(1):e3003003. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3003003. eCollection 2025 Jan. PubMed PMID: 39874373; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11774391.

Gao S, Thillaikumaran T, Dominguez MH, Giang W, Hayes K, Chen X, Pace J, Bockman J, Jathan D, Sung D, Narayan S, Frankfurter M, Mericko-Ishizuka P, Yang J, Castro M, Potente M, Kahn ML, "YAP/TAZ signaling in allantois-derived cells is required for placental vascularization." bioRxiv. 2024 Sep 16;. doi: 10.1101/2024.09.15.613151. PubMed PMID: 39345443; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11429833.

Krup AL, Winchester SAB, Ranade SS, Agrawal A, Devine WP, Sinha T, Choudhary K, Dominguez MH, Thomas R, Black BL, Srivastava D, Bruneau BG, "A Mesp1-dependent developmental breakpoint in transcriptional and epigenomic specification of early cardiac precursors." Development. 2023 May 1;150(9). doi: 10.1242/dev.201229. Epub 2023 May 2. PubMed PMID: 36994838; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10259516.

Dominguez MH, Krup AL, Muncie JM, Bruneau BG, "Graded mesoderm assembly governs cell fate and morphogenesis of the early mammalian heart." Cell. 2023 Feb 2;186(3):479-496.e23. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.01.001. PubMed PMID: 36736300; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10091855.

Sung DC, Chen M, Dominguez MH, Mahadevan A, Chen X, Yang J, Gao S, Ren AA, Tang AT, Mericko P, Patton R, Lee M, Jannaway M, Nottebaum A, Vestweber D, Scallan JP, Kahn ML, "Sinusoidal and lymphatic vessel growth is controlled by reciprocal VEGF-C-CDH5 inhibition." Nat Cardiovasc Res. 2022 Nov;1(11):1006-1021. doi: 10.1038/s44161-022-00147-0. Epub 2022 Nov 11. PubMed PMID: 36910472; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9997205.

Ayoub AE, Dominguez MH, Benoit J, Ortega JA, Radonjic N, Zecevic N, Rakic P, "Coordination of Neuron Production in Mouse and Human Cerebral Cortex by the Homolog of Drosophila Mastermind Protein." Brain Behav Evol. 2019;93(2-3):152-165. doi: 10.1159/000500494. Epub 2019 Aug 15. PubMed PMID: 31416089; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7011861.

Morozov YM, Dominguez MH, Varela L, Shanabrough M, Koch M, Horvath TL, Rakic P, "Antibodies to cannabinoid type 1 receptor co-react with stomatin-like protein 2 in mouse brain mitochondria." Eur J Neurosci. 2013 Aug;38(3):2341-8. doi: 10.1111/ejn.12237. Epub 2013 Apr 26. PubMed PMID: 23617247; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3902808.

Dominguez MH, Ayoub AE, Rakic P, "POU-III transcription factors (Brn1, Brn2, and Oct6) influence neurogenesis, molecular identity, and migratory destination of upper-layer cells of the cerebral cortex." Cereb Cortex. 2013 Nov;23(11):2632-43. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhs252. Epub 2012 Aug 14. PubMed PMID: 22892427; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3792741.

Ayoub AE, Oh S, Xie Y, Leng J, Cotney J, Dominguez MH, Noonan JP, Rakic P, "Transcriptional programs in transient embryonic zones of the cerebral cortex defined by high-resolution mRNA sequencing." Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Sep 6;108(36):14950-5. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1112213108. Epub 2011 Aug 22. PubMed PMID: 21873192; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3169109.

Dominguez MH, Rakic P, "Language evolution: The importance of being human." Nature. 2009 Nov 12;462(7270):169-70. doi: 10.1038/462169a. PubMed PMID: 19907485.

Rakic P, Ayoub AE, Breunig JJ, Dominguez MH, "Decision by division: making cortical maps." Trends Neurosci. 2009 May;32(5):291-301. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2009.01.007. Epub 2009 Apr 18. Review. PubMed PMID: 19380167; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3601545.

Dominguez MH, Rakic P, "Neuroanatomy of the FGF system." J Comp Neurol. 2008 Jul 10;509(2):141-3. doi: 10.1002/cne.21748. PubMed PMID: 18459136.