A researcher from the University of Missouri School of Medicine recently received a $2.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue his work studying the mechanisms of the heart, with the ultimate goal of discovering new treatments for heart failure and heart disease.
Kerry McDonald, the grant recipient, previously conducted research on myosin binding protein-C (cMyBP-C), a protein found in cardiac muscle cells. His team found that cMyBP-C may regulate heart muscle contraction and relaxation, the two critical parts of a heartbeat.
“The prior study showed that cMyBP-C seemed to sense when there was too much stress on the heart muscle cells, and it would adjust the organ’s contraction based on how hard it needed to work,” McDonald said. “Thanks to this grant, my team and I plan to study the protein more extensively and determine its potential role in therapeutic treatments.”
For example, McDonald’s team will investigate how cMyBP-C’s structure and function might change because of phosphorylation, a biochemical process that can ‘turn off and on’ protein activity. They also hope to identify other proteins involved in cardiac muscle contraction and stress response.
“If we can learn how to control the ‘on and off switches’ of protein activity, it could help with developing therapies that strengthen the heart or prevent damage in patients with heart conditions,” McDonald said.
McDonald will also collaborate with two investigators from the University of Kentucky, who will assist with researching how phosphorylation may alter cMyBP-C’s structure and integrate these changes into an existing computer model of heart performance, which will be used to simulate experiments and test hypotheses.
Kerry McDonald, PhD is a professor and the chair of Medical Pharmacology and Physiology at the Mizzou School of Medicine. He is also a Bolm Distinguished Professor, and a Bolm Distinguished Chair in Cardiovascular Health. The NIH grant will award $2.6 million over four years.
