As a postdoctoral fellow, Christian Mandrycky will test a hypothesis that MYH3 mutations (implicated in the skeletal muscle disorder Distal arthrogryposis) alter both the mechanics of the contractile apparatus as well as the maturation of skeletal muscle. In his project Mandrycky aims to determine the effect of mutation on the contractile function of normal and mutant skeletal muscle and to investigate the effect of MYH3 mutations on the transcriptome of both hiPSC-derived skeletal myoblasts and skeletal muscle. Together these results will provide a more complete view of the effect of MYH3 mutations on contractile function and their cascading effect on skeletal muscle development and maturation.