Our research efforts utilize numerous broad investigative approaches, including muscle physiology and biophysics, biochemistry and molecular biology to investigate the roles of specific contractile proteins in the regulation of myocardial contraction and relaxation in health and disease.
Our research program utilizes a translational approach to examine the biological diversity in cardiac function across a wide range of mammalian species (i.e., mice to human). In addition, our laboratory takes advantage of emerging molecular biological techniques to assess the pathophysiology of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Our primary experimental technique involves the use of either de-membranated (i.e., chemically-skinned) or membrane-intact (i.e., living) multicellular preparations to assess myocardial contractility in normal and diseased tissue. In the image below, a chemically-skinned preparation is anchored to two troughs connected to a length-controller (i.e., motor) and force transducer in order to measure steady-state force and the rate of force development.
