Short statement:
The heart is constantly in motion thanks to the contraction of individual cardiac cells, but we rarely consider how the contraction of the heart affects the cardiac cells themselves. We use experimental approaches to investigate the dynamic cardiac ultrastructure on a nano-to-micro scale. We combine our experimental work (including advanced light and electron microscopy, life tracking of ion dynamics, contractility measurements, and single cell manipulation) with computational tools to understand how intracellular structures (such as individual organelles and the cytoskeleton) inside cardiac muscle cells deform during contraction, and how this deformation affects the function of individual cells and of the whole heart.
We are also interested in the novel ways in which the many different cell types in the heart communicate with one other, for example through dynamic membrane processes. We investigate this using a combination of live cell manipulations (genetic, environmental, pharmacological), imaging, and biochemical methods.