Kristen Turner, PhD

I have a long-standing interest in the biology of striated tissues, particularly skeletal and cardiac muscles. I am currently investigating the physiology of membrane repair in Dr. Daniel Michele’s laboratory. Our overall research goals are to determine possible therapeutic targets that may benefit patients with muscular dystrophy, a disease categorized by progressive muscle weakness, cardiomyopathy and early death. We previously reported that disruption of the actin cytoskeleton impairs recruitment of membrane repair protein dysferlin to the muscle cell membrane.  To better understand these findings, I am identifying cellular/molecular regulators of actin assembly at the plasma membrane of skeletal and cardiac muscles after experimental and physiological injury.