PhD position (m/f/d)

Project description: Inherited cardiomyopathies are the main cause of failing heart and even sudden cardiac death (SCD) in competitive athletes and young individuals. Single point mutations in genes encoding key sarcomeric proteins, such as the major force-generating motor protein, β-cardiac myosin (β-myosin) and myosin-binding protein C (cMyBPc) are responsible for nearly 80 % of all the inherited cardiomyopathy cases. The severity of the disease depends on the site of mutations in the contractile proteins, causing impaired protein function, leading to a series of changes in the cardiac muscle and thereby compromised heart function. Our goal is to identify the primary defects in sarcomeric proteins that harbour cardiomyopathy mutations. The project aims to investigate functional changes in biophysical and biochemical properties using state-of-the-art single-molecule function-assessment techniques, such as optical trapping and Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence microscopy (TIRF).
Understanding the fundamental mechanism of sarcomeric protein function and dysfunction is key to developing effective treatment strategies.

Our group has long-term and in-depth expertise and experience in the fields of motor protein biology and biophysics (e.g., Wang et al., Small doi: 10.1002/smll.202406865, Wang et al., ACS Nanoletter doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c02960, Amrute-Nayak et. al., Small, doi: 10.1002/smll.201804313, Amrute-Nayak et. al., PNAS, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1316390111). We offer comprehensive training and intensive support for learning the above-mentioned methods using state-of-the-art equipments.