Research Goals

Research projects at CBAC cover the entire spectrum from molecular and cellular processes to mechanisms, diagnosis and treatment of arrhythmias in patients. The cross-disciplinary structure of CBAC promotes collaborations between researchers and clinicians and fosters a multiple-approach strategy to the study, diagnosis and treatment of cardiac arrhythmias. Approaches include molecular, single-cell and whole-animal experiments, mathematical modeling and computer simulations, and patient studies during imaging, catheterization and open-heart surgery. Among the state-of-the-art techniques employed are genetics, biomolecular structural analysis, patch clamp recordings from single ion channels, ion-selective electrode measurements, high resolution electrical mapping, optical mapping of cardiac activation and cell-calcium, supercomputing and computer graphics, signal processing and image analysis.

Projects include:

• Molecular structure and electrophysiological function of cardiac ion channels
• Development of mathematical models of cardiac ion channels, cells and tissues
• Regulatory pathways in cardiac cells
• Mechanisms of hereditary cardiac arrhythmias
• Arrhythmias in myocardial ischemia and infarction
• Cell-to-cell communication and action potential propagation in the diseased heart
• Structure and function of the atrio-ventricular node
• Mechanisms of cardiac (ventricular and atrial) fibrillation and new strate gies for defibrillation
• Development and application o f a novel imaging modality for cardiac arrhythmias
• Mechanisms of cardiac resynchronization therapy for heart failure