When the heart loses its ability to pump blood, either as a result of a major trauma, or a comorbidity like obesity or diabetes, the condition is commonly known as heart failure. In the United States, heart failure is at least partly to blame for 13% of all deaths. According to the NIH, one in four Americans will develop heart failure at some point in their lives and the incidence has increased over the last 25 years, especially among younger adults. At the same time, there have been few significant improvements in the treatment of heart failure.
One solution to this very large and growing problem may exist within the machinery of the heart itself. The muscle contractions that allow the heart to beat are generated by interactions between actin and myosin, proteins that enable movement at the molecular level by converting energy-rich molecules of ATP into muscle power.
