Ann Robinson

I am the laboratory manager. My main job is to keep this place running while making sure everyone has what he or she needs. I have also been busy with 3 different research projects in the laboratory. The first one involves creating a Tet inducible mouse lines that express the a-myosin heavy chain promoter and gene. We know that in heart failure b-myosin heavy chain is up regulated, and a-myosin heavy chain is down regulated. Having an inducible mouse will allow us to see if there are any potential therapeutic benefits of turning on the a-myosin heavy chain gene in hypertrophic mice before, during or late in heart failure. After some difficulty with the first mouse lines created we are moving forward with the collaborative help of Dr. Jeff Robbins' constructs and mice. My second project is strictly cloning, something I really enjoy.  It involves making several different mutations and or deletions with in the LMM region of myosin. Bob Thompson has been studying this region for quite a while. I am helping where I can.  Lastly is my latest venture in cloning the impossible, full-length myosin.  Rearrangement is its middle name.   I was given the task of trying to make a full-length myosin virus.  With the expert knowledge and cloning vectors of Steve Langer, we are well on our way to making this a reality.