Roxana Atanasiu

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

Roxana Atanasiu is a molecular biologist whose research focuses on the cellular mechanisms underlying cardiac arrhythmias, particularly the Long QT Syndrome—a disorder that predisposes individuals to life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias. Her most influential work, the 2007 study "Co-chaperone FKBP38 Promotes HERG Trafficking" (96 citations), elucidates a critical pathway in cardiac electrophysiology. Atanasiu demonstrated that the co-chaperone FKBP38 facilitates the proper trafficking of the HERG potassium channel (encoded by KCNH2), whose mutations are a leading cause of inherited Long QT Syndrome. By identifying FKBP38 as a key regulator of HERG surface expression, her research provided mechanistic insight into how channel misfolding and impaired trafficking contribute to arrhythmia susceptibility. This work has implications for developing targeted therapies that restore HERG function in patients with channelopathies. Atanasiu’s contributions bridge basic molecular chaperone biology with clinical cardiology, offering a foundation for understanding how protein quality control pathways influence cardiac repolarization and sudden cardiac death risk. Her findings remain a cornerstone for researchers investigating ion channel trafficking disorders.