Dr. LeCapitaine completed her PhD training at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. Thereafter, she pursued a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the New York Medical College studying cardiac stem cells (CSCs) and their ability to repair damaged myocardium. Following this training, Dr. LeCapitaine returned to LSU Health Sciences Center where her research focused on optimizing the isolation and analysis of microparticles using flow cytometry. She also studied how both acute and chronic alcohol change the microparticle phenotypes in the blood. In 2010, Dr. LeCapitaine joined the Department of Physiology as a Research Instructor.

Research Interests

• Impact of chronic alcohol administration on muscle turnover and dyslipidemia in the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)-infected rhesus macaque

• Impact of chronic delta-9-tetrahydrocannibinol (THC) administration on SIV disease progression in the macaque

• Impact of ethanol, THC, and SIV on adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells and skeletal muscle progenitor cells.

Teaching Activities

Dr. LeCapitaine has taught several lectures in a variety of graduate and nursing courses including “Angiogenesis,” “Cardiac Output,” “The Vasculature,” “Acid Base,” “Luminex Technology,” “Renal Physiology” and “Alcohol and HIV/SIV-associated wasting.” In addition, she is co-director of the General Oral and Physiology course (Course number 3202).

Selected Publications

Rota M, LeCapitaine N, Hosoda T, Boni A, DeAngelis A, Padin-Iruegas ME, Esposito G, Vitale S, Urbanek K, Casara C, Giorgio M, Luscher TF, Pelicci PG, Anversa P, Leri A, and Kajstura J. (2006) Diabetes promotes cardiac stem cell aging and heart failure, which are prevented by deletion of the p66shc gene. Circulation Research. 99(1):42-52.

Bearzi C, Rota M, Hosoda T, Tillmanns J, Nascimbene A, DeAngelis A, Siggins RW, LeCapitaine N, Cascapera S, Beltrami AP, Zias E, Quaini F, Urbanek K, Bolli R, Kajstura J, Leri A, and Anversa P. (2007) Human cardiac stem cells. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 104 (35) 14068-14073.

Tillmanns J, Rota M, Hosoda T, Misao Y, Esposito G, Gonzalez A, Vitale S, Parolin C, Yasuzawa-Amano S, Muraski J, De Angelis A, LeCapitaine N, Siggins RW, Loredo M, Bearzi C, Bolli R, Urbanek K, Leri A, Kajstura A, and Anversa P. (2008) Formation of large coronary arteries by cardiac progenitor cells. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 105(5):1668-1673.

Siggins RW, Zhang P, Welsh D, LeCapitaine N, and Nelson S. (2008) Stem cells, phenotypic inversion, and differentiation. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine. 1(1):2-21.

Shi X, LeCapitaine N, Rudner X, Ruan S, and Shellito J. (2009) Lymphocyte apoptosis in murine Pneumocystic pneumonia. Respiratory Research. 10(1):57. PMCID: PMC2714500.

LeCapitaine NJ, Zhang P, Winsauer P, Walker E, Vande Stouwe C, Porretta C, and Molina PE. Chronic Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol administration increases lymphocyte CXCR4 expression in rhesus macaques. J Neuroimmune Pharmacol. 2011 Apr 12 [Epub ahead of print].

LeCapitaine NJ, Wang ZQ, Dufour JP, Potter BJ, Bagby GJ, Nelson S, Cefalu WT, Molina PE. Disrupted anabolic and catabolic processes may contribute to alcohol-accentuated SAIDS-wasting. J Infectious Diseases. In print.

Additional Info

Curriculum Vitae

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .