Anthony Hessel, PhD

Excited to share our preprint using time-resolved small-angle X-ray diffraction to study myosin motor conformations during isometric twitch and tetanus contractions in the slow-twitch rat soleus skeletal muscle #myoblue

14 postdoctoral fellowships to the BRIDGE – Translational Excellence Programme

We are looking for an enthusiastic MD or PhD to work on a postdoc project on the molecular mechanisms underlying human hibernating myocardium and ischemic cardiomyopathy. If interested send me an email! #heart #cardiomyopathy #sarcomere

Phylogeny of Aneides and Plethodon with animal photos

Phylomorphospace showing body shape variation

Morphospace of toe bones and box lots showing estimated gripping force

Representative SEM images of salamander feet

Excited to share the first paper from my PhD!

We looked at what traits help Aneides salamanders excel at climbing using museum specimens, CT scans, SEM, and more! No claws or toe pads, so how do they do it? In short, with long limbs, big feet and grippy toes! 🦎🧪

DM for PDF

doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

This new #Methods article evaluates #freeze-drying to #RNAlater and three RNAlater-ICE-based protocols for #skeletal #muscle #biopsy tissue preservation for subsequent manual isolation of #fibers and other downstream applications.
doi.org/10.14814/phy...
#Physiology #MyoBlue

Sign the Petition Establish a Dedicated Cardiac and Skeletal Muscle Research Subgroup Within The Biophysical Society

Calling all BPS member / interested muscle people!!!

Sam Harris is spearheading a push towards make a new muscle subgroup at the Biophysical Society.

*Signatures from active members are needed*, but anyone with an interest can sign.

Please help the cause!
www.change.org/p/establish-...

Danicamtiv reduces myosin’s working stroke but activates the thin filament by accelerating actomyosin attachment | PNAS Heart failure is a leading cause of death worldwide, and even with current treatments, the 5-y transplant-free survival rate is only ~50 to 70%. As...

Congrats to Brent Scott from the Greenberg lab for this new paper on danicamtiv's mechanism of action.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Excited to see our FiberSim code being put to such good use.
campbell-muscle-lab.github.io/FiberSim/

Cardiac CapZ Regulation During Acute Exercise in Female Mice CapZ regulates actin addition at the barbed ends of sarcomeric actin. At rest, phosphorylated CapZIP slows addition, and dephosphorylated CapZIP promotes a wobble state to allow actin cycling. During...

Can you really repair an engine while it's running? 👩🏽‍🔧

The heart can. 💪🏼🫀

Our latest @faseborg.bsky.social paper shows how the protein 'CapZ' helps heart muscle to keep running during exercise. ⛹🏼‍♀️🏊‍♂️

#Exercise #Heart #Muscle #BasicScience #Cardiology

faseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1096/...

Global study: 2.08M people, 133 cohorts, 39 countries, 6 continents. 5 risk factors influence 50% of lifetime cardiovascular disease risk. PMID:40162648, N Engl J Med 2025, @NEJM https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2415879 #Medsky #Pharmsky #RNA #ASHG #ESHG 🧪

...I explained to them about how research funding works for these kinds of things and how government should support them...and if they do agree with it, they should let their reps know. They asked how to let their reps know. So a small example of going out and interacting with the community.

Dangerously, using the same argument could justify doing nothing ever for communication. That aside, balance online and other mediums. I find direct interaction helps. E.g., I talked with a group of American Legion members about leg amputation / protheses research and they were very engaged. Then...

That advantage of name recognition and such early on does impact the grant reviewers for sure. I am not a "genius" scientist, maybe just above mid. I just think I and my circle of fabulous mentors have carefully organized my pathway into staying in science...at least for a bit longer...

This may be a bit strongly worded. Some people took initiative to write grants even when in a secure post doc. Some wrote grants that were tailored-made to be impactful/career boosting. IMHO, no problem with career strategy in an ultra competitive funding landscape. Wayyy more deserve than spots.

Yes! NIAMS and NHLBI as well!

Y’all!!! Our comparative anatomy textbook is out!!! Free, open access, and just in time for the fall semester!

"The successful candidate will have expertise in area(s) related to cardiovascular physiology, metabolic regulation and dysregulation, and/or hormonal mechanisms that maintain homeostasis, with a focus on aging."

All scientists need to be doing more of this and posting on all types of social media platforms (not just on the echo chamber communities). We must get better at communicating our science in a fun and effective way to a broad audience or tax payers/ voters.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Protect Science and Innovation

Day of Action planned for July 21 to protect science protectscienceandinnovation.org

NIH moves towards alternatives to animal models, in line with the shift in the EU. This is not bad policy in principal but not yet always feasible on technical grounds. It's important to continue searching for "muscles in a dish" that are of quality for Xray diffraction. Who wants to collab?

nothing would make me happier than US science returning to the amazing and transformational legacy of success and dominance

but if that's not possible, we need other places with the vision to take over as the pacesetter

humanity's long term success demands no less

I was delighted to accept the King Charles III Coronation Medal for my lab's research & advocacy for women's heart health.🫀💃🏻

We appreciate the support of IMPART at @dalhousie.bsky.social & @womensresearch.bsky.social, & were grateful to be nominated by the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada.

Damien M. Callahan presents this #TranslationalPerspective on the work of Laitila et al. linking altered structure and post-translational modification of Troponin T to dystonia in nemaline myopathies💭 ✍️

🔗 physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/...

Myosin-binding protein C regulates the sarcomere lattice and stabilizes the OFF states of myosin heads Nature Communications - Myosin-binding protein C (MyBP-C) resides and interacts with the myosin filaments in striated muscle and regulates contraction via an unclear mechanism. Here, the authors...

Myosin-binding protein C regulates the sarcomere lattice and stabilizes the OFF states of myosin heads.
rdcu.be/etNxf

Titin-Based Force Modulates Cardiac Thick and Thin Filaments
lnkd.in/ef6veRyT

The distinctive mechanical and structural signatures of residual force enhancement in myofibers
DOI link: lnkd.in/eaAZb4QG

Here is a list of some of the papers that are recognized by the prize:

Titin force in muscle cells alters lattice order, thick and thin filament protein formation
DOI link:
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

The entire group at the University of Münster, Insitute of Physiology II also deserve a standing ovation! And finally, my wonderful partner Anna Good and lovely dogs.

A huge pile of collaborators have joined me to pursue some really interesting topics: Weikang Ma, Thomas Irving and Samantha Harris to name a few. Furthermore, those grad students in the trenches with me for it all @michelkuehn.bsky.social, Nic Engels, Christine Delligatti, Devin Nissen, and more.

While it is great to be recognized for the effort that I put into my craft, it is also a prize that recognizes all the people in my life that foster excellence. Wolfgang Linke, Kiisa Nishikawa, and Daniel Hahn have been fantastic mentors over the years.

The research surrounds my focus on understanding the role of titin and MyBP-C to muscle performance (some papers listed below).

I will recieve my award and present a lecture at the International Union of Physiological Sciences + Europhysiology joint meeting, in September.

I am honored to announce that I was awarded the Du Bois-Reymond Prize of the German Physiological Society!

“The German Physiological Society recognizes an outstanding and independent scientific work in a current field of physiology.”