My research focuses on transcriptional regulation in cardiac and skeletal muscle under normal and diseased conditions. Some of the transcription factors that regulate expression of muscle specific genes have been identified and include the TEF-1, MEF-2, NFAT and myoD families. While the role of individual factors in regulating the expression of gene expression has been grossly determined, how the activity of these factors is regulated to achieve the complex expression patterns seen during muscle development and during disease is still not clear.

Specifically, my laboratory is investigating how members of the TEF-1 transcription factor family and their transcriptional coactivators regulate gene expression in cardiac and skeletal muscle. TEF-1 binding sites are required for the expression of many contractile protein genes in cardiac, skeletal and smooth muscle under normal and diseased conditions. TEF-1 proteins regulate muscle specific gene expression through interactions with other proteins (with other TEF-1 family members, with cofactors, with other types of transcription factors, and with the basal transcriptional machinery). The research in my laboratory focuses on these interactions; how they control muscle development, differentiation and gene expression under normal and diseased conditions. Studies of gene regulation in models of heart disease are especially relevant since heart failure has a very poor prognosis and is a leading cause of death.