Research Interests: 

     - Molecular Mechanicsm of Muscle Fatigue 
     - Percentage of Myosin heads that contribute to active muscle force 

Selected Publications:

C. Karatzaferi, K. Franks-Skiba, R. Cooke. The Inhibition of Shortening Velocity of Skinned Skeletal Muscle Fibers in Conditions that Mimic Fatigue. Am J. Physiology Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology E-pub. ahead of print (2007).

K. Franks-Skiba, R. Lardelli, G. Goh, and R. Cooke. Myosin Light Chain Phosphorylation Inhibits Muscle Affects Fiber Shortening Velocity In The Presence Of Vanadate. Am. J. Physiology Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology 292:R1603-12 (2007).

Karatzaferi, C., Myburgh, K. H., Chinn, M. K., Franks-Skiba, K. and Cooke, R. The effect of an ADP analog on isometric force and ATPase activity of active muscle fibers. American Journal of Physiology (Cell Physiology), 284 (4): C816-C825 (2003).

Chinn, M.K., Myburgh, K.H., Pham, T, Franks-Skiba, K., and Cooke, R. The Effect of Polyethelene Glycol on the Mechanics and Atpase Activity of Muscle Fibers. Biophysical Journal 78:927-939 (2000).

Pate, E., Franks-Skiba, K. and Cooke, R. Depletion of Phosphate in Active Muscle Probes Actomyosin States Within the Powerstroke. Biophysical Journal  74:  369 - 380  (1998).

Reversible Inactivation of Myosin Subfragment-1 Activity by Mechanical Immobilization Highsmith, S., Duignan, K., Franks-Skiba, K., Polosukhina, K. and Cooke, R. Biophysical Journal  74: 1465-1472  (1998).