Research

The theme of my research is protein structure and function. The proteins I am interested in are the thick and thin filament proteins of striated muscle; myosin, actin, tropomyosin and troponin.  Investigations involve the functional consequences of isotype and phosphorylation and how tropomyosin is adapted to function at low temperature (C&EN News 2020). My main collaborator is Howard White at Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk. I have spent three sabbatical terms in the White lab measuring fast ATPase reaction rates by mechanical stopped-flow. Our latest article demonstrates how myosin light chains A1 and A2 alter muscle performance.