Samantha Harris is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior at the University of California, Davis. She received her PhD from the University of Michigan in 1995 and then began training in the field of muscle physiology as a postdoc in the laboratory of Richard Moss at the University of Wisconsin. She was a faculty member in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Washington prior to joining UC Davis in 2007. Her research interests include investigation of the molecular mechanisms by which muscle contractile proteins, especially myosin binding protein-C, regulate the force and speed of contraction and the mechanisms by which mutations in sarcomeric proteins cause hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Her laboratory utilizes a variety of molecular, biochemical, and mechanical approaches along with development of engineered mouse models and naturally occurring large animal models of cardiac hypertrophy to study contractile protein function.
Biography: Jolanda van der Velden
Jolanda van der Velden is Associate Professor at the Laboratory for Physiology, part of the Institute for Cardiovascular Research (ICaR-VU) of the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam (the Netherlands). One of the main approaches in the research group of van der Velden in understanding the molecular pathophysiology of cardiomyopathies involves identification of (post)-translational modifications of sarcomeric proteins involved in cardiac contractility. The group has optimized techniques to perform functional measurements in single human cardiomyocytes isolated from small cardiac tissue samples obtained during cardiac surgery. In addition, gel analysis methods have been developed to investigate the (phospho)proteome of the myofilaments. At present, the functional effects of differentially phosphorylated troponin are investigated using troponin exchange in human cardiomyocytes in close collaboration with Anne Murphy and Jennifer van Eyk of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.Jolanda van der Velden is Associate Professor at the Laboratory for Physiology, part of the Institute for Cardiovascular Research (ICaR-VU) of the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam (the Netherlands). One of the main approaches in the research group of van der Velden in understanding the molecular pathophysiology of cardiomyopathies involves identification of (post)-translational modifications of sarcomeric proteins involved in cardiac contractility. The group has optimized techniques to perform functional measurements in single human cardiomyocytes isolated from small cardiac tissue samples obtained during cardiac surgery. In addition, gel analysis methods have been developed to investigate the (phospho)proteome of the myofilaments. At present, the functional effects of differentially phosphorylated troponin are investigated using troponin exchange in human cardiomyocytes in close collaboration with Anne Murphy and Jennifer van Eyk of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Biography: R. John Solaro
R. John Solaro is Distinguished University Professor and Head of Physiology and Biophysics at the College of Medicine University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He is also co-director with Sam Dudley of the UIC Center for Cardiovascular Research. The Solaro lab has had a long standing interest in control of cardiac dynamics at the level of the sarcomeric proteins with emphasis on the structure function relations of thin filament proteins and the role of post-translational modifications in adaptive and maladaptive response to cardiac stressors. With identification of sarcomeric protein mutations as causal in familial hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathies, the lab has also focused on understanding mechanisms and together with Beata Wolska at UIC and David Wieczorek at Cincinnati in developing therapeutic strategies. The approaches involve integrating sarcomere response to Ca with electrophysiological control mechanisms with Ming Lei’s lab in Manchester, England and with Sam Dudley and Yunbo Ke (UIC). Integration of sarcomeric and metabolic control mechanisms is done in collaboration with Doug Lewandowski, Director of the Program in Integrative Cardiac Metabolism at UIC.
