Year: 2022

Here, we examined how the sarcomeric myosin MYH7b is structurally, mechanically, and kinetically tuned for its unique role in specialized muscles. Publication can be found here.  

Specific myosin isoforms have emerged as drug targets in diseases including heart failure, cancer, muscle diseases, and parasitic infections; however, targeting specific myosins without affecting others has been challenging since most myosins share a common structure.  Here, we show that the structural dynamics play a critical role in determining drug specificity. The understandings gleaned from this study will help with the design of new therapeutics targeting specific myosin isoforms. To read the paper, click here.

The Greenberg lab welcomes Brent Scott, PhD as a new postdoc in the lab.

The Greenberg lab, together with collaborators Kory Lavine and Nate Huebsch, received a Transformational Project Award entitled "Human heart-on-a-chip to study the immune system in cardiac disease pathogenesis and repair".

Ankit Garg presented his data at the American Heart Association BCVS meeting: P1059 / P1059 - Establishing The Mechanistic Basis Of Dilated Cardiomyopathy Associated With The Skeletal Muscle Actin Mutation R256H.

In collaboration with the Gurnett and Johnson labs, we looked at pathogenic mutations in tropomyosin that cause various forms of skeletal myopathies and birth defects. McAdow J, Yang S, Ou T, Huang G, Dobbs MB, Gurnett CA, Greenberg MJ, Johnson AN. A pathogenic mechanism associated with myopathies and structural birth defects involves TPM2 directed myogenesis. JCI Insight. 2022 May 17:e152466. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.152466. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35579956.

The Greenberg lab had 4 presentations at BPS 2022: Platform (Samantha Barrick - Postdoc): STRUCTURAL DIFFERENCES IN VINCULIN AND METAVINCULIN ACTIN-BINDING DOMAINS EXPLORED BY MOLECULAR DYNAMICS SIMULATIONS Poster (Jeff Lotthammer – Student Bowman lab): EXPLORING THE MYOSIN ACTIVE/AUTO-INHIBITED STATE EQUILIBRIUM BY MARKOV STATE MODELING Poster (Artur Meller – Student Bowman lab): SIGNATURES OF ALLOSTERIC MODULATOR SPECIFICITY ARE ENCODED IN MYOSIN MOTOR DOMAIN EQUILIBRIUM FLUCTUATIONS Poster (Michael Greenberg - PI): HARNESSING MULTISCALE MODELS OF A DILATED CARDIOMYOPATHY MUTATION FOR PRECISION MEDICINE