Bottom-up approaches to understand pathomechanisms of cardiomyopathies: Exploring a nanomotor dysfunction one-at-a-time
Torsdagen den 6 februari håller Dr. Mamta Amrute-Nayak från Hannover Medical School (MHH; Medizinische Hochschule Hannover) en gästföreläsning vid fakulteten för hälso- och livsvetenskap.
Om föreläsningen
Molecular motors drive diverse cellular functions, including cardiac and muscle contraction, intracellular cargo transport, whole cell motion, cell division, etc. Understanding the fundamental mechanisms underlying the specific motor’s function and their regulation is among the primary research goals in my lab. Impaired motor functions due to point mutations have been linked to severe disorders, including cardiomyopathies. Heart failure accounts for the major cause of death globally. Among the primary cardiomyopathies, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) affects 1 in 200 individuals worldwide and is a major cause of sudden cardiac deaths (SCD) in young individuals and competitive athletes. Single point mutations in genes encoding cardiac myosin motor components account for nearly 40% of the HCM cases. One of our research goals is to understand the primary functional impairment of the myosin motors that leads to the development of pathological cardiac remodeling. We employ a bottom-up approach whereby single molecule level investigation using highly sensitive function analysis tools such as optical trapping and TIRF microscopy allow us to find even subtle functional alterations in motors in an isolated, well-controlled microenvironment. Evaluating the motor’s function at different levels of molecular organization by combining the single and ensemble molecule level studies allow us to get insights into the specific features altered by the myopathy-causing mutations. Molecular dynamic (MD) simulations of mutant motors further advance our knowledge of the structure-function relationship. The combination of powerful function analysis tools and multiscale approaches allows creation of a knowledge map, which is key to finding the targeted therapeutic interventions.
Föreläsningen hålls både på plats i rum Vi2023, hus Vita i Kalmar, samt via Zoom på den här länken.
Föreläsningen hålls på engelska.