Telephone: (301) 435-8371

E-mail: horowits@helix.nih.gov

Office: Building 50, Room 1154

Mailing Address:
National Institute Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) 

• Molecular mechanism of myofibril assembly
•  Force generation and transmission in striated muscles
• Molecular basis of cardiac and muscle disease

We are studying the problem of how the tension generating organelles in heart and skeletal muscle attach at the ends of the cells and transmit the force of contraction. Our recent work has focused on the role of N-RAP, a novel protein discovered in our laboratory, in attaching the myofibrils at the myotendinous junctions of skeletal muscle and at the intercalated disks in cardiac muscle. We are also using cell biological methods to study the putative role of N-RAP as a molecular organizing center during the initiation of myofibril assembly at the cell membrane. Techniques used include bacterial and eukaryotic expression of recombinant proteins, biochemical purification and structural studies, immunofluorescence and video-microscopy of GFP-tagged proteins in cardiomyocyte cultures.