Research Projects

In Vivo and In Silico Models of Atrial Fibrillation and its Therapy

Atrial fibrillation (AF), the most commonly encountered serious arrhythmia, results in substantial morbidity and mortality for over 3 million Americans. Catheter ablation (CA) can be helpful to reduce arrhythmia burden, and in some cases provides long-term control. However, the optimal CA strategy has not been established, despite decades of research. Recurrences are common, and need for repeat CA the norm, with associated potential for added complications.

In the lab, we employ sophisticated computational models of the fundamental cardiac cell electrical event—the action potential. These models are applied to human data sets in health and disease, to assay the utility of different treatment strategies.

(accepting students)

Computational Models of Heritable Channelopathy

Sudden cardiac death claims the lives of 350,000 Americans each year (equivalent to 1000 people a day or one person every two minutes). Many of these events occur as a consequence of inherited arrhythmias that cause dysfunction of ion channels, or channelopathies. The central hypothesis of this project is that the cardiac specialized conduction system, comprised of Purkinje fiber (PF) cells, plays a central role in the formation and maintenance of these deadly arrhythmias.

Multiple lines of evidence suggest a role of the PF in arrhythmia formation; for example, findings on catheter-based electrophysiology study in patients have recorded "Purkinje potentials" immediately preceding ventricular arrhythmia in post-myocardial infarction patients, the congenital long QT syndrome, and idiopathic ventricular fibrillation.

A combined in vitro and computational approach in order to examine a novel paradigm: whether differences in cell type and their interplay modulate the cellular effect of heritable channelopathies. The findings promise to have important implications in the pharmacologic management of affected patients. The insight gained may also enhance our understanding of channel dysfunction linked to more widespread cardiovascular conditions, such as heart failure and ischemia.

3-dimensional Models of Electrical Wave Propagation in Human Tissue

Our lab is interested in the nature of interplay between cells in the formation and maintenance of arrhythmia. 3-dimensional models of impulse propagation, incorporating heterogeneity of tissue types, are useful in understanding this process. This project involves massively parallel computational techniques and relevant algorithm development.

(accepting students)