Laboratory of Cardiovascular and Muscular Physiology
                        The University of Maryland School of Medicine

Dr. Joca's research focuses on a better understanding of key components that regulate cardiac and skeletal muscle excitation-contraction coupling remodeling in diverse diseases. Those include muscle mechanotransduction, cytoskeleton biology and ion channel function. Dr. Joca uses a combination of electrophysiology, microscopy and force measurements techniques in his experimental designs to explore the muscle function.

​

Dr. Joca's work explores a highly innovative concept that the microtubule (MT) network regulates mechanotransduction via its effects on the mechanical properties of the cell. Our focus on the MT network is also innovative as targeting its density effectively reduces both the dysregulated ROS and Ca2+ signaling in skeletal muscle and heart during diseases.

​

Our discoveries to date have been enabled by the development of highly innovative approaches for the investigation of mechanotransduction in single, intact cardiomyocytes and skeletal muscle fibers. These methods allow us to A.) Mechanically manipulate single muscle cells with high temporal and spatial resolution while measuring intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) and ROS production using real-time confocal imaging and B.) Mechanically interrogate the cell to determine relate its mechanical properties to the magnitude of mechanotransduction.  We extend our insights on gained from single cell approaches to novel state-of-the-art in vivo approaches.

 

Our goal is to relate cellular changes in cell mechanics to in vivo phenotypes that can be tracked to monitor disease progression or therapeutic efficacy.

​

To get in touch with Dr. Joca send an email to HJoca@som.umaryland.edu