Samantha Harris

Samantha (Sam) Harris is a professor in Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Biomedical Engineering, Physiological Sciences GIDP, Physiology and the BIO5 Institute at the University of Arizona. She is also the co-chair of the Arizona Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program (ABBS). She holds a PhD in Physiology from the University of Michigan.

The long-term goal of research in Sam Harris’ lab is to understand the molecular mechanisms of muscle contraction, focusing on how contractile proteins of muscle sarcomeres regulate the force and speed of contraction in the heart. The question is important from both basic science and clinical perspectives because mutations in sarcomere proteins of muscle are a leading cause of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), the most common cause of sudden cardiac death in the young and a prevalent cause of heart failure in adults. Myosin binding protein-C (MyBP-C) is a muscle regulatory protein that speeds actomyosin cycling kinetics in response to adrenaline (b-adrenergic stimuli) and is one of the two most commonly affected proteins linked to HCM. Currently, the major research focus in Sam Harris’  lab is understanding the mechanisms by which cMyBP-C regulates contractile speed and mechanisms by which mutations in cMyBP-C cause disease.