The Muller lab is interested in uncovering cellular signaling processes in human heart disease and in applying our findings for therapeutic aims. We examine modulators of the second messengers, cyclic nucleotides cAMP and cGMP, that regulate cell signaling pathways. Specifically, we study proteins in these pathways that mediate and can augment contractility of the heart. Reduced cardiac contractility is a feature of heart failure, the leading cause of death in the U.S. Our work is therefore clinically relevant, but additionally so because concurrent studies are evaluating the therapeutic efficacy of our signaling pathways in patients with heart failure. In our approach, we combine sophisticated cell imaging, biomolecular and biochemical techniques with animal models such as mice, rats and guinea pigs.