ZFIN Person: Chin, Alvin J.

ZFIN ID: ZDB-PERS-960805-109

ZFIN ID: ZDB-PERS-960805-109

Chin, Alvin J.

Email:	chinalvi@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
URL:	http://www.med.upenn.edu/apps/faculty/index.php/g275/p18406
Affiliation:
Address:	Retired
Country:	United States
Phone:	215-738-9407
Fax:
ORCID ID:	0000-0002-0417-8653

BIOGRAPHY AND RESEARCH INTERESTS

EDUCATION:

A.B., Harvard College, 1973 (magna cum laude, Biochemical Sciences)
M.D., Stanford University, 1977
Pediatrics residency years, 1977-1979
Pediatric Cardiology fellowship, 1979-1982 (Children's Hospital, Boston)
Developmental Biology fellowship 1994; 1995-1999 (Massachusetts General Hospital; University of Pennsylvania)

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

The focus of my research from 1994 through 2007 was developmental biology of the cardiovascular system using the zebrafish model, with the overall goal of understanding the molecular basis of congenital heart disease.

My lab's main project was understanding how the left-right body axis was specified during embryonic development, in order to gain insight into a syndrome called heterotaxy, occurring at a frequency of 1.00 to 1.44 per 10,000 human live births. Disorders of organ lateralization, such as heterotaxy syndrome and situs inversus totalis, are frequently associated with complex anomalies of the heart and major veins. Despite elaborate staged surgical reconstructive strategies (usually culminating in the Fontan operation), 20-year survival remains <50%.

Since 2008, I have closed my zebrafish lab, transitioned to part-time status and retired formally in 2014. I have continued to work part-time on two clinical research projects: (1) Identification of informative biomarkers to be used as surveillance tools in the monitoring of late survivors of the Fontan operation for "functional single ventricle"; and (2) computer modeling of the Fontan circulation. My collaborators for Project 1 are at the eleven institutions which form the Consortium of Clinical Investigations for Complex Congenital Heart Diseases (CCI-CCHD). My collaborator for Project 2 is Ray Watrous PhD.

PUBLICATIONS

Chin, A.J., Saint-Jeannet, J.P., and Lo, C.W. (2012) How insights from cardiovascular developmental biology impact the care of infants and children with congenital heart disease. Mechanisms of Development. 129(5-8):75-97

Chatterjee, B., Chin, A.J., Valdimarsson, G., Finis, C., Sonntag, J.M., Choi, B.Y., Tao, L., Balasubramanian, K., Bell, C., Krufka, A., Kozlowski, D.J., Johnson, R.G., and Lo, C.W. (2005) Developmental regulation and expression of the zebrafish connexin43 gene. Developmental Dynamics : an official publication of the American Association of Anatomists. 233(3):890-906

Kochilas, L.K., Potluri, V., Gitler, A., Balasubramanian, K., and Chin, A.J. (2003) Cloning and characterization of zebrafish tbx1. Gene expression patterns : GEP. 3(5):645-651

Ryan, K. and Chin, A.J. (2003) T-box genes and cardiac development. Birth defects research. Part C, Embryo today : reviews. 69(1):25-37

Liang, D., Chang, J.R., Chin, A.J., Smith, A., Kelly, C., Weinberg, E.S., and Ge, R. (2001) The role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in vasculogenesis, angiogenesis, and hematopoiesis in zebrafish development. Mechanisms of Development. 108(1-2):29-43

Wallace, K.N., Yusuff, S., Sonntag, J.M., Chin, A.J., and Pack, M. (2001) Zebrafish hhex regulates liver development and digestive organ chirality. Genesis (New York, N.Y. : 2000). 30(3):141-3

Chatterjee, B., Li, Y.X., Zdanowicz, M., Sonntag, J.M., Chin, A.J., Kozlowski, D.J., Valdimarsson, G., Kirby, M.L., and Lo, C.W. (2001) Analysis of Cx43alpha1 promoter function in the developing zebrafish embryo. Cell adhesion and communication. 8(4-6):289-292

Chin, A.J., Tsang, M., and Weinberg, E.S. (2000) Heart and gut chiralities are controlled independently from initial heart position in the developing zebrafish. Developmental Biology. 227(2):403-421

Kelly, C., Chin, A.J., Leatherman, J.L., Kozlowski, D.J., and Weinberg, E.S. (2000) Maternally controlled ß-catenin-mediated signaling is required for organizer formation in the zebrafish. Development (Cambridge, England). 127(18):3899-3911

Chin, A.J. (2000) Analysis of two aspects of left-right patterning of the vertebrate heart. Heart tube position and heart tube chirality. Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.). 136:261-270

Liang, D., Xu, X.Z., Chin, A.J., Balasubramaniyan, N.V., Teo, M.A.L., Lam, T.J., Weinberg, E.S., and Ge, R.W. (1998) Cloning and characterization of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) from zebrafish, Danio rerio. Biochim. Biophys. Acta Gene Struct. Exp.. 1397:14-20

Chen, J.-N., van Eeden, F.J.M., Warren, K.S., Chin, A., Nüsslein-Volhard, C., Haffter, P., and Fishman, M.C. (1997) Left-right pattern of cardiac BMP4 may drive asymmetry of the heart in zebrafish. Development (Cambridge, England). 124(21):4373-4382

Chin, A.J., Chen, J.N., and Weinberg, E.S. (1997) Bone morphogenetic protein-4 expression characterizes inductive boundaries in organs of developing zebrafish. Development genes and evolution. 207(2):107-114

NON-ZEBRAFISH PUBLICATIONS
selected from a total of 98:

Batsis M, Kochilas L, Chin A, Kelleman MS, Ferguson M, Oster M: Association of digoxin with preserved echocardiographic indices in the interstage period: a possible mechanism to explain improved survival? J Am Heart Association 10: e021443, December 2021.

Bradley S. Marino, MD, MPP, MSCE, Amy Cassedy, PhD, Adam L. Dorfman, MD, Michael Taylor, MD, Mark Fogel, MD, Alvin Chin, MD, Caren Goldberg, MD, David J. Goldberg, MD, Bryan H. Goldstein, MD, David Gremmels, MD, Marshall L Jacobs, MD, Anitha S. John, MD, PhD, Heidi Kalkwarf, PhD, Eileen King, PhD, David Overman, MD, Christina Phelps, MD, Robert Stewart, MD, Babette Zemel, PhD, Amanda J. Shillingford*, MD, Lazaros Kochilas*, MD: Serum Biochemical Biomarkers Predict Lower Cardiac Index in Adolescents and Young Adults with Fontan Circulation (abstract). Circulation 140: A12537, November 2019

Chin, AJ: Single Ventricle. http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/898559-overview August 2018.

Chin, AJ: Heterotaxy Syndrome and Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia. http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/896757-overview April 2017.

Watrous RL, Chin AJ. Model-based comparison of the normal and Fontan circulatory systems. Part III: Major differences in performance with respiration and exercise. World Journal for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery 2017; 8(2): 148-160.

Marino BS, Goldberg D, Dorfman AL, Kalkwarf H, Zemel B, Smith M, Pratt J, King E, Fogel M, Shillingford AJ, Deal B, John AS, Goldberg C, Hoffman T, Jacobs M, Lisec A, Finan S, Kochilas L, Pawlowski T, Campbell K, Joiner C, Goldstein S, Stephens P, Chin A. Serum Biomarkers Correlate with Lower Cardiac Index in the Fontan Population. Cardiology in the Young 2017; 27(1): 59-68.

Chin, AJ: Interrupted aortic arch. http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/896979-overview March 2016.

Chin AJ, Watrous RL.: Model-based comparison of the normal and Fontan circulatory systems. Part II: Major differences in performance characteristics. World Journal of Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery. Sage Publications, 6(3): 360-373, July-August 2015.

Watrous RL, Chin AJ. : Model-based comparison of the normal and Fontan circulatory systems. Part I: Development of a general purpose, interactive cardiovascular model. World Journal for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery Sage Publications, 5(3): 372-384, July-August 2014.

Iyer VR, Chin AJ. Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy/dysplasia (ARVC/D) American Journal of Medical Genetics Part C 2013; 163C: 185-197.

Chin AJ, Whitehead KK, Watrous RL. “Insights After 40 years of the Fontan Operation”. World Journal for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery 2010; 1:328-343.