Brett Colson, PhD
Program Affiliations:
- Physiological Sciences GIDP
- Arizona Bilogical and Biomedical Sciences
- Biomedical Engineering GIDP
- Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology
Address:
MRB Room 310
Phone:
(520) 621-1950
Email:
bcolson@email.arizona.edu
Websites:
Publications:
Research Interests
Dr. Colson’s research interests include understanding the molecular motions of muscle proteins that finely-tune and regulate the heart’s contractile performance.
The primary goal of his current research is to understand the relationship between the structural, biochemical, and physiological states in the mechanisms underlying cardiovascular dysfunction in genetic heart disease. These insights from the mechanistic studies in his lab are then used to design novel molecular therapies for heart failure and cardiovascular disease.
Recent work in the Colson lab has focused on how genetic mutations and changes in post-translational modifications in myosin binding protein-C can cause the development of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the most common cause of sudden cardiac death in young people.
Using site-directed spectroscopy, with high resolution in both space and time, Dr. Colson and his research team decipher the molecular dynamics in these muscle proteins, which are involved with controlling the strength and speed of cardiac muscle contraction. For these biophysical experiments, they attach fluorescent probes to track protein motions, orientation, and functional characteristics including protein binding and force development in the muscle cell. Similar state-of-the-art approaches are also used in his lab’s efforts for drug and small molecule discovery as novel heart failure therapies.