Sarah Heissler
Ohio State University, OH·Biochemistry
Cells shape themselves and move cargo using a scaffold of protein filaments called actin. Myosins are motor proteins that walk along actin and help organize it.
- Fields
Biochemistry
Biophysics
Biology
- Topics
myosin-3
molecular motors
motor proteins
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Aug 2027
What they work on
- Determine the enzymatic profile of myosin-3 motors, kinase-myosin hybrid proteins, and how their activity is regulated, using biochemical and biophysical measurements on purified proteins.
- Solve the unique structure of myosin-3 motors using high-resolution structural approaches, to show how the kinase and motor parts fit together.
- Identify the pathways, kinase targets and binding partners that control myosin-3 function and regulation, using in vitro and cell biological approaches.
More about the research
Myosin-3 motors are unusual hybrids. Each one joins a motor to a kinase, an enzyme that adds phosphate tags to other proteins to change what they do. These motors carry cargo and organize actin in sensory cells, and they have important roles in hearing and vision. Still, how they work at the molecular level is poorly understood.
Why it matters
Myosin-3 motors help organize the cell's internal scaffold in sensory cells needed for hearing and vision. Revealing how they work and are controlled could clarify their roles in human health and disease. It could also explain more broadly how different myosin motors are tuned to build actin networks in cells.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
E. Ostap
University of Pennsylvania, PA·Biophysics
Determine the structural basis of myosin force sensing by testing conserved residues that tune tension sensitivity in Myo1b and Myo1c, using engineered motors, microsecond optical trapping and cryo-EM.
Naomi Courtemanche
University of Minnesota, MN·Biochemistry
Determine the mechanism that lets formins, proteins that both start and lengthen actin filaments, adjust their polymerization activity across isoforms, using biophysical measurements.
Dimitrios Vavylonis
Lehigh University, PA·Biophysics
Model how fission yeast nodes — membrane protein clusters that time cell cycle progression and cytokinesis — assemble at the nanoscale, focusing on interactions of Cdc15, Mid1 and Cdr2 with each other and with the membrane.
The school
Ohio State University: 71 labs on PI Pages, $1.6B a year on research, 882 research doctorates a year.
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