Our research projects cover the entire spectrum from molecular and cellular processes to mechanisms, diagnosis and treatment of arrhythmias in patients. The cross-disciplinary structure of the 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.
Faculty Research Interests and Labs:
Yoram Rudy Lab
Cardiac Bioelectricity and Arrhythmia Center (CBAC) Director’s Lab
Research Interests:
• Cardiac Bioelectricity
• Cardiac Electrophysiology and Arrhythmias
• Computational Biology and Mathematical modeling
• Cardiac Imaging and Mapping
Martin Arthur Lab
Research Interests:
• Electrocardiography
• Ultrasonics
• Auditory Neurophysiology
• Technology in Healthcare
C. William Balke Lab
Research Interests:
• Cardiac calcium homeostasis
• SR calcium regulation
Experimental Techniques:
• The patch clamp technique
(whole-cell & single channel variations)
• Epifluorescence microscopy with ion-selective fluorescent indicators
• Fash photolysis of “caged” compounds
• Laser scanning confocal microscopy
(single & two photon)
• Mathematical modeling
Philip Bayly Lab
Research Interests:
- • Biomechanics of Brain Development
• Dynamic Brain Deformation and Traumatic Brain Injury
• Mechanics of Cilia and Flagella
Sanjeev Bhalla Lab
Research Interests:
• Chest Radiology
• Body Computed Tomography
• Emergency Radiology
• Cardiac Imaging
• Radiology
Clinical Interests:
• Body computed tomography/magnetic resonance
• Chest biopsies
• Special interest in cardiac imaging
Daniel Cooper Lab
Research Interests:
• Prevention of sudden cardiac death (SCD)
• Mechanisms that lead to ventricular arrhythmias and cardiac arrest
• Long and short QT syndromes, Brugada syndrome, early repolarization syndrome, catecholaminergic polymorphic VT (CPVT), idiopathic VT/VF
• Cardiomyopathy
Clinical Interests:
• Cardiac arrhythmias
• Implantable defibrillators
• Heart rhythm disorders
• Pacemakers
• Electrocardiographic imaging
Phillip Cuculich Lab
Research Interests:
• Electrocardiographic Imaging (ECGI)
• HYBRID-AF Procedure
• Risks and Benefits of Implantable Defibrillators (ICD’s)
• Cardiogenic Syndromes
Clinical Interests:
• Arrhythmias
• Inherited/genetic syndromes
• Sudden cardiac death
• Atrial fibrillation
• Ventricular tachycardia
• Electrophysiology
• Cardiovascular disease
Jianmin Cui Lab
Research Interests:
• Molecular mechanisms of ion channel activation
• Ion Channels in Physiology and Disease
• Discovery of channel-modifying compounds
Aarti Dalal Lab
Research and Clinical Interests:
• Pediatric heart rhythm disorders
• Electrophysiology studies
• Catheter ablation
• Pacemaker/defibrillator implantation
Ralph Damiano Lab
Research Interests:
• Surgical treatment of arrhythmias
• Myocardial protection
• Atrial fibrillation
Clinical Interests:
• Cardiac surgery, arrthymia surgery, beating heart surgery, minimally invasive cardiac surgery
• Endoscopic coronary artery bypass grafting
• Coronary artery revascularization
• Valve repair and replacement
• Myocardial preservation
• Surgical electrophysiology
• Transmyocardial laser revascularization (TMR)
• Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) with obstruction
Abhinav Diwan Lab
Research Interests:
• Understanding the role of lysosomes in health and disease
• Use both invertebrate and vertebrate model systems to perturb and interrogate lysosome biology
• Develop targeted therapies that can harness lysosome function to prevent and treat cardiomyopathy, heart failure, Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes
Clinical Interests:
-
• General cardiology and echocardiography
• Understand the role of lysosome dysfunction and protein aggregation in patients with cardiomyopathy and heart failure
• Characterizing cardiovascular complications in patients with COVID-19
Victor Davila-Roman Lab
Research Interests:
• Hypertensive heart disease (HHD)-endophenotypes
Clinical Interests:
• Cardiomyopathy
• Magnetic resonance imaging
• Myocardiology
• Hypertension
• Vascular surgery
• Coronary artery disease
• Supervising and interpreting tests, such as stress echocardiograms
• Treadmill stress test, Holter, Event and Loop monitors
Mitchell Faddis Lab
Research Interests:
• Pathophysiology and treatment of atrial fibrillation
• Development of new catheter based strategies for the treatment of atrial fibrillation
Clinical Interests:
• Catheter ablation
• Magnetic guidance
• Congestive heart failure
• Atrial fibrillation
• Arrhythmias
Michael J. Greenberg Lab
Research Interests:
• Mechanobiology of cardiac contraction
• Precision medicine for familial cardiomyopathies
• Technology development
Richard W. Gross Lab
Nathaniel Huebsch Lab
Research Interests:
• Pluripotent-stem cell derived cardiac micro-tissues for modeling cardiac development, drug toxicity and cardiomyopathy
• Synthetic Extracellular Matrix Mimetics with defined presentation of adhesion ligands and growth factors
R. Gilbert Jost Lab
Clinical Interests:
• Radiology
• Medical imaging
• Digital radiology and networking
• X-rays
• Alternative screening
Sándor Kovács Lab
Research Interests:
• Theoretical (mathematical) biology and physiology.
• Characterization of physical properties of cardiovascular tissue
• Maximal information extraction from in-vivo physiologic signals
• Mathematical modeling of cardiovascular function
• Nonlinear dynamics, thermodynamics and optimization principles of cardiovascular unction
• Development of new technology for imaging and physiologic signal acquisition and processing
Douglas Mann Lab
Jonathan Moreno Lab
Research Interests:
• Multiscale computational models to understand mechanisms of arrhythmia in cardiomyopathy, heart failure, and inherited arrhythmia syndromes.
• Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
• Computational cellular electrophysiology
• 3D ventricular models
• Drug repositioning strategies
• Translational research on cardiac transplant and LVAD patients
Clinical Interests:
-
• Advanced Heart Failure
• Cardiac Transplantation
• Cardiogenic shock, Mechanical Circulatory Support (LVADs)
• Pulmonary Hypertension
• Congestive Heart Failure
• Myocardial Infarction
• Diagnostic heart catheterization
• Endomyocardial biopsy
Arye Nehorai Lab
Research Interests:
• Mathematical modeling of real-world systems
• Statistical data analysis,
• Signal processing
• Machine learning for inference, prediction, decision making and optimal design for health, biomedicine and defense
Jeanne Nerbonne Lab
Research Interests:
• Molecular, cellular and systemic mechanisms involved in the physiological regulation of cardiac and neuronal membrane excitability
• How molecular, cellular and systemic mechanisms go awry in inherited and acquired disease
• Impact of derangements in membrane excitability on cardiovascular and nervous system functioning
Colin Nichols Lab
Research Interests:
• Lipid control of ion channel gating
• Single molecule FRET
• Vascular consequences of KATP gain-of-function
• Cantu Syndrome – cardiac consequences of KATP gain-of-function
• Modeling excitability-dependent diabetes in zebrafish
• iPSC-derived cardiovascular tissues
Joseph O’Sullivan Lab
Research Interests:
• Information theory
• Information-theoretic imaging
• Recognition theory and systems
• CT imaging
• Optical imaging
• Information hiding
• Hyperspectral imaging
Maria S Remedi Lab
Research Interests:
• Study in vivo physiology in various mouse models of diabetes to unravel the underlying mechanisms of pancreatic β-cell failure in glucotoxic stages, and their consequences in both pancreatic and extra-pancreatic tissues
Stacey Rentschler Lab
Research Interests:
• Developmental Programming and Reprogramming of Conduction Tissue
• Molecular Basis of Congenital Heart Defects
Clifford Robinson Lab
Research Interests:
• Lung cancer, esophageal cancer, and central nervous system malignancies
• Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT)
• Spine radiosurgery, and Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery
Clinical Interests:
• Lung cancer, esophageal cancer
• Brain tumor, spine tumor
• Gamma Knife, stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT)
Rajan Sah Lab
Research Interests:
• Ion channel signaling in the adipocyte
• Ion channel regulation of pancreatic β-cell function
• Modulators of calcium signaling in skeletal muscle
• Novel ion channel signaling in myocardium
• Ion channel signaling in endothelium
Jingyi Shi Lab
Research Interests:
• Molecular mechanisms of ion channel activation
• Ion channels in association with diseases
• Discovery of channel-modifying compounds
Jennifer N. Avari Silva Lab
Research Interests:
• Clinical Applications of Noninvasive Electrocardiographic Imaging (ECGI)
• Pediatric Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy
Clinical Interests:
-
• Pediatric cardiology
• Arrhythmia in children
• Pediatric electrophysiology,
Jonathan Silva Lab
Research Interests:
• Linking Changes in Molecular Conformation to Cardiac Function
• Spectroscopic Monitoring of Ion Channel Conformation
• Cardiac Ion Channel and Action Potential Modeling
Timothy W. Smith Lab
Research Interests:
• Cardiac cellular and tissue electrophysiology and mechanism of arrhythmias;
• Treatment of arrhythmias, including pharmacologic therapy, ablation therapy, and implantable device therapy;
• Device implantation techniques;
• Prevention of sudden cardiac death
Clinical Interests:
Diagnostic electrophysiology, clinical arrhythmia, bradyarrhythmias, tachyarrthymia, atrial fibrillation, paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardias, ventricular arrhythmias, pacemaker implant, pacemaker evaluation, cardioverter defribrillators, catheter mapping, catheter ablation, risk assessment for sudden death, syncope (fainting), and palpitation
Phyllis Stein Lab
Research Interests:
• Risk stratification and mechanistic understanding of autonomic function from state of the art research analysis of continuous ECG monitoring-Holter, telemetry, polysomnography
• Analysis of heart rate patterns to measure heart rate variability, identify normal and abnormal patterns, screen for sleep disorders also detect t-wave alternans
Jason Trobaugh Lab
Research Interests:
• Probabilistic models for ultrasound images
• Model-based image analysis
• Treatment guidance applications for ultrasonic imaging
• Clinical applications of inverse electrocardiography
• Ultrasonic temperature imaging for management of thermal therapies
George Van Hare Lab
Research Interests:
• Multicenter clinical research in pediatric heart rhythm disorders; • Biology of atrioventricular node reentry;
• Mapping and ablation of post-operative atrial and ventricular tachycardias
Clinical Interests:
-
• Heart rhythm disorders in children, and in adults with congenital heart disease;
• Radiofrequency catheter ablation, cryoablation, pacemaker, implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, (ICD), implantation and follow-up
Pamela Woodard Lab
Research Interests:
• Coronary MR angiography
• Myocardial perfusion imaging
• Coronary CT angiography
• Atherosclerotic plaque characterization
• Pulmonary embolism diagnosis and imaging biomarkers
Clinical Interests:
-
• Cardiac CT and MRI
• Pulmonary embolism diagnosis
• Targeted molecular imaging
Christian Zemlin Lab
Research Interests:
• Atrial Fibrillation: Terminate with more precise lesions
• Defibrillaton: Shorter shocks to avoid tissue damage
• Heart attacks: Limit tissue loss with drugs that promote regeneration
• Arrhythmia mechanisms: Studying the building blocks of arrhythmias
• Realistic simulation of arrhythmia
• Automated assessment of mouse sociability in behavioral movies
Chao Zhou Lab
Research Interests:
• Space-division multiplexing optical coherence tomography (SDM-OCT)
• Molecular-targeted OCT and OCM for cancer detection
• OCT and OCM Imaging in Developmental Biology
• 3D OCT imaging of Brain Functions
• OCT (OCM) combined with deep learning
• Optogenetic pacing in Drosophila melanogaster using integrated OCM imaging and red light stimulation system