Masataka Kawai

Masataka Kawai is a Professor in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. His research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of striated muscle contraction and the pathogenesis of hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathies (HCM, DCM).

• Education: BA in Science from the University of Tokyo, PhD in Biology from Princeton University, Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University.

Kawai's lab develops innovative techniques using skinned muscle fibers and recombinant proteins to study actin-myosin interactions. His work reveals how regulatory proteins like tropomyosin and troponin enhance muscle force generation and how mutations in these proteins lead to cardiomyopathies through distinct diastolic and systolic mechanisms.

Recent publications emphasize molecular dynamics of HCM/DCM mutations, thin filament reconstitution methods, and ionic effects on muscle contractility. Key subfields include protein structure-function relationships, biomechanical modeling, and translational research on cardiovascular diseases.

Kawai leads the Kawai Lab, contributing to bioinformatics, computational biology, and experimental methodologies in muscle research.