Research

Overview

Research in the lab is grounded in muscle biophysics and mathematical modeling of striated muscle function but increasingly moved towards translation.  This trend started in 2008 when we initiated a collaboration with a cardiothoracic surgeon to procure myocardium from patients and organ donors. The program took off and has evolved into a biobank that currently contains >20,000 specimens procured from many hundreds of patients and organ donors. We share these samples with investigators from biotech companies and tens of institutions around the world and use them in nearly all of our own experiments.

Our mission is to help patients who have heart failure by bridging the scientific gaps between molecular, cellular and organ-level function. Some of our key strengths include:

• Muscle mechanics

• Mathematical modeling

• Biochemistry and histology

• Biobanking and human samples

Nearly all of our publications involve at least 2 of these areas; some of our projects use techniques from all of them.