Gregory Milburn

My research is centered on heart failure and muscle mechanics. Utilizing single muscle fiber mechanical experiments, we are able to examine the physical parameters of skeletal and cardiac muscle contraction such as isometric force, cooperativity, and calcium sensitivity. In particular, I am interested in how these physical parameters of muscle contraction are altered in heart failure.

Example of single fiber muscle used in our biophysics experiments. This gif shows spontaneous oscillatory contraction (SPOC) within this fiber:  spoc_contraction.gif

Our lab is heavily involved in biobanking human myocardium. We use these samples for our own experiments as well as share them with other research groups across the country and internationally. In addition to biophysics experiments, our lab manages a biorepository of over 10,000 human myocardium samples from cardiac surgeries such as heart transplants and left ventricular assist device (LVAD) placement. With these samples we are able to correlate a patient's clinical information with the contractile and biochemical properties of their myocardium. Using these samples, my research examines how LVAD placement influences the contractile properties of myocardium in patients with heart failure.