Our lab’s main interest is the study of molecular mechanics and cellular motility. We employ single molecule fluorescence techniques and laser trapping assays to study: the mechanism and regulation muscle contraction, cell motility, and the regulation of cell shape. Our lab’s investigations of cardiac muscle contraction focus on the effects of cardiomyopathy-causing amino acid substitutions on myosin’s mechanical and enzymatic properties and tropomyosin’s ability to regulate muscle contraction via the Ca++/troponin system. We are also investigating actin filament network mechanics and the regulation of cytoskeletal dynamics.