Recent Publications
Cryo-EM Reveals How Cardiomyopathy Therapeutic Drugs Modulate the Myosin Motors of the Heart
A recent publication in Science Advances, titled “Cryo-EM Reveals How Cardiomyopathy Therapeutic Drugs Modulate the Myosin Motors of the Heart,” – Arun Kumar Somavarapu, Jinghua Ge, Christopher M. Yengo, Roger Craig, and Raul Padron, Cryo-EM reveals how cardiomyopathy therapeutic drugs modulate the myosin motors of the heart. Sci. Adv. 12,eaed6472(2026). DOI:10.1126/sciadv.aed6472
In this study, we used advanced cryo-electron microscopy to visualize, at near-atomic resolution, how two clinically important cardiac myosin-targeting drugs Mavacamten and Omecamtiv Mecarbil, alter the structure and functional states of the heart’s molecular motor myosin protein. These findings provide a direct structural explanation for how different therapeutic approaches can tune cardiac muscle activity and offer new insights into the mechanisms underlying cardiomyopathy treatment.
- This work provides a molecular framework for understanding how cardiac myosin-targeted therapies work and may help guide future development of treatments for inherited and acquired heart diseases.
- By revealing how therapeutic compounds reshape the structure of the heart’s molecular motor, this study bridges the gap between drug binding and physiological effects
Lung Cancer Detection - preventing medical imaging misses
Muhammad A. J. Qadri, Reuben R. R. Reyes, Daria Kifjak, Bilal Elkaddouri, Alexander A. Bankier, Max P. Rosen & Gregory J. DiGirolamo. An animal model of radiological medical image reading: detection of lung abnormalities in multi-slice CT by pigeons (Columba livia). Anim Cogn 29, 26 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-026-02048-2. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-026-02048-2
Dr. Gregory DiGirolamo, a researcher at the College of the Holy Cross and Department of Radiology at UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts, and his colleagues successfully trained six pigeons to watch short CT scan videos and decide whether or not they showed a lung nodule (growths on the lung that could signal cancer). This sci-fi-esque study actually holds the key to preventing medical imaging misses—but not in the way that you are probably imagining: https://www.popsci.com/environment/pigeons-detect-cancer/
International Recognition for Breast Cancer Screening Initiative
I am honored to share the continued recognition of our breast cancer screening quality improvement initiative, which restored screening following the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. This work was built upon the Breast Cancer System Redesign Project, led by Quality Project Manager Kris Marcus, and reflects the collaboration of many individuals, disciplines, and service lines across UMass Memorial Health. Michael Anderegg and I led many of the operational initiatives including patient access, referral and scheduling workflows, provider engagement, community outreach, nurse navigation, patient education, marketing, and quality reporting.
The Surgery publication, 2021 Return-to-Screening ACS Quality Improvement Project: Increasing Mammography Screenings Post-COVID at UMass Memorial Medical Center (attached), continues to receive national and international recognition. I would like to recognize my co-authors, Dr. Gopal Vijayaraghavan and Paul Lofrumento for their extensive contributions to the project and their dedication to the development of this publication. (For the American College of Surgeons NAPBC and CoC 2021 quality standards, data abstraction was limited to UMass Memorial Medical Center. ) This project successfully received Top Performer (1/786) of ACS accredited cancer programs.
Warm regards,
Carisa Lozoraitis, MSN-EL, RN, BHSs, LBB
Quality Safety Regulatory Project Manager
Cancer Quality Program Manager