Lab
The Cammarato Lab is located in the Division of Cardiology in the Department of Medicine at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. We are interested in basic mechanisms of striated muscle biology. We employ an array of imaging techniques to study “structural physiology” of cardiac and skeletal muscle. Drosophila melanogaster, the fruit fly, expresses both forms of striated muscle and benefits greatly from powerful genetic tools. We investigate conserved myopathic (muscle disease) processes and perform hierarchical and integrative analysis of muscle function from the level of single molecules and macromolecular complexes through the level of the tissue itself.
Selected Publications
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Nishimura M, Kumsta C, Kaushik G, Diop SB, Ding Y, Bisharat-Kernizan J, Catan H, Cammarato A, Ross RS, Engler AJ, Bodmer R, Hansen M, Ocorr K. A dual role for integrin-linked kinase and β1-integrin in modulating cardiac aging. Aging Cell. 2014 Jan 9. doi: 10.1111/acel.12193. [Epub ahead of print]
Viswanathan MC, Kaushik G, Engler AJ, Lehman W, Cammarato A. A Drosophila melanogaster model of diastolic dysfunction and cardiomyopathy based on impaired troponin-T function. Circ Res. 2014 Jan 17;114(2):e6-17. doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.114.302028. Epub 2013 Nov 12. Erratum in: Circ Res. 2014 Feb 14;114(4):e28.
Xie HB, Cammarato A, Rajasekaran NS, Zhang H, Suggs JA, Lin HC, Bernstein SI, Benjamin IJ, Golic KG. The NADPH metabolic network regulates human αB-crystallin cardiomyopathy and reductive stress in Drosophila melanogaster. PLoS Genet. 2013 Jun;9(6):e1003544. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1003544. Epub 2013 Jun 20.
Wang Y, Melkani GC, Suggs JA, Melkani A, Kronert WA, Cammarato A, Bernstein SI. Expression of the inclusion body myopathy 3 mutation in Drosophila depresses myosin function and stability and recapitulates muscle inclusions and weakness. Mol Biol Cell. 2012 Jun;23(11):2057-65. doi: 10.1091/mbc.E12-02-0120. Epub 2012 Apr 11.
Kaushik G, Fuhrmann A, Cammarato A, Engler AJ. In situ mechanical analysis of myofibrillar perturbation and aging on soft, bilayered Drosophila myocardium. Biophys J. 2011 Dec 7;101(11):2629-37. doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2011.10.042.