Ruth Sommese
Biochemistry
Bio-X SIGF Fellow 2011/2012
Paul Berg Fellow
Professor James Spudich (Biochemistry)

In the United States, cardiovascular disorders are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Familial cardiomyopathies are among the most frequently occurring inherited cardiac diseases, and many result from mutations in the fundamental force generating system of cardiac muscle, myosin and the thin fila-ment. The interaction between myosin and the thin filament has been fine-tuned in cardiac muscle in terms of power output and the rates of force genera-tion and relaxation. The goal of this project is to characterize how cardiomyopathy mutations affect the force producing capabilities of cardiac muscle at the single molecule, single cell, and whole organ level.