The beat goes on: Research yields two 'firsts' regarding protein crucial to human cardiac function
Friday, August 31, 2012 - 12:30
in Biology & Nature
Researchers have achieved significant benchmarks in a study of the human cardiac protein alpha-tropomyosin, which is an essential, molecular-level component that controls the heart's contraction on every beat. Using an imaging method called atomic force microscopy, scientists have achieved two 'firsts': the first direct imaging of individual alpha-tropomyosin molecules and the first demonstrated examples of a measure of the human cardiac protein's flexibility.