Genetic heart muscle problems: how tiny changes in muscle proteins affect your heart
Official title: Experimental and Computational Studies in Genetic Cardiomyopathies
Funded at University of Washington · NIH-11324562 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A research study from the University of Washington aims to understand how genetic changes in heart muscle proteins affect heart function and how to predict which patients might respond to future treatments.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Washington NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Seattle, United States) |
| Project start | May 1, 2022 |
| Project end | April 30, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $660,731 |
| NIH project number | 5R01HL157169-05 |
| Project ID | NIH-11324562 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Individuals with hypertrophic or dilated cardiomyopathy who have or may have known sarcomeric gene variants.
✕Less likely to help
Patients without cardiomyopathy or without relevant genetic variants may not benefit from this research.
What this research studies
Researchers will study how genetic variants in sarcomeric proteins change the heart’s force and twitching by using high-throughput experiments and computer simulations. They will analyze thousands of variants to identify key features that explain disease severity and treatment responses. The goal is to create faster, more comprehensive ways to classify variants and guide precision therapies for people with HCM or DCM.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could lead to better, more personalized treatment choices for people with genetic cardiomyopathies.
How similar studies have gone: Previous work shows that biophysical and computational analyses can explain how some variants affect heart muscle; this project scales up to thousands of variants for broader insights.
Where this research is happening
-
University of Washington
Seattle, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Moussavi-Harami, Farid — University of Washington
- Study coordinator: Moussavi-Harami, Farid
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.