Rate My Professor Henk Granzier

Henk Granzier, PhD, is a Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at The University of Arizona, where he also holds professorships in Physiology, Biomedical Engineering, the BIO5 Institute, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Physiological Sciences GIDP, and Genetics GIDP. He earned a BS in Biology from the University of Wageningen in 1982, an MS cum laude in Physiology and Biophysics from the same institution in 1983, a PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Washington in 1988, and completed postdoctoral training in Biochemistry at the University of Texas at Austin in 1993. Granzier's academic career began at Washington State University, advancing from Assistant Professor of Physiology in 1993 to Full Professor by 2002 until 2007. At the University of Arizona since 2007, he served as Professor of Physiology in the Medical School until 2014, became Professor in Cellular and Molecular Medicine in 2014, holds the Allan and Alfie Endowed Chair for Heart Disease in Women Research at the Sarver Heart Center since 2007, and has directed the Small Animal Phenotyping Core Facility since 2014. He was a Sabbatical Professor at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin from 2006 to 2007.

Granzier's research investigates the giant elastic protein titin, spanning the half-sarcomere from Z-disk to M-band, and its roles as a molecular spring, mechanosensor, and regulator of myocardial passive stiffness, sarcomere length, thick filament length, and calcium sensitivity in striated muscle. His laboratory employs bioengineering, physiology, and mechanical approaches, including mouse models with targeted titin modifications such as deletions in spring elements, PEVK region, and IA-junction, to elucidate mechanisms in heart function, Frank-Starling response, diastolic dysfunction, heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, dilated cardiomyopathy, nemaline myopathy, and nebulin-related disorders. Key publications include "Folding-unfolding transitions in single titin molecules characterized with laser tweezers" (Science, 1997), "Myocardial stiffness in patients with heart failure and a preserved ejection fraction: contributions of collagen and titin" (Circulation, 2015), "Deleting titin's I-band/A-band junction reveals critical roles for titin in biomechanical sensing and cardiac function" (PNAS, 2014), and "Discovery of Titin and Its Role in Heart Function and Disease" (Circulation Research, 2025). With over 205 publications, his pioneering work on titin biomechanics, isoforms, posttranslational modifications like phosphorylation, and single-molecule techniques has profoundly influenced the field. Honors include the Henry and Phyllis Koffler Prize (2023), UArizona Founders Day honoree (2024), Helmholtz-Humboldt Research Award (2006), Pfizer Award for Research Excellence (2005), American Heart Association Established Investigator (2000), and Elected Associate Editor of Circulation: Heart Failure (2017).