Compound may prevent risk of a form of arrhythmia from common medications (Links to an external site)

Jianmin Cui, KCNQ1

CBAC Jianmin Cui leads a multi-institutional team to make this discovery. Dozens of commonly used drugs, including antibiotics, antinausea and anticancer medications, have a potential side effect of lengthening the electrical event that triggers contraction, creating an irregular heartbeat, or cardiac arrhythmia called acquired Long QT syndrome. While safe in their current dosages, some of these drugs may have a more therapeutic benefit at higher doses, but are limited by the risk of arrhythmia.

An ‘unprecedented look’ into the protein behind hypertension, epilepsy and other conditions (Links to an external site)

Jianmin Cui

After new technology recently revealed the structure of the protein, the lab of CBAC member Jianmin Cui, professor of biomedical engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, will collaborate with two others to take an unprecedented look into its molecular mechanisms potentially leading to the development of new drugs for these and other conditions.

NIH grant to support study of heart’s inner mechanisms (Links to an external site)

Jianmin Cui

Findings could lead to better treatment for cardiac arrhythmia and long QT syndrome.CBAC member Jianmin Cui, PhD, has received a nearly $1.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the molecular bases for the function of potassium channels vital for the heart, brain, inner ear and other tissues.

Research opens opportunities to develop targeted drug therapy for cardiac arrhythmia (Links to an external site)

Jianmin Cui

CBAC members Jianmin Cui, PhD, professor of biomedical engineering, and Mark Zaydman, fifth-year MD/PhD student, and a team of biomedical engineers has discovered that for one important channel in the heart, called KCNQ1, the membrane voltage not only causes the channel to open, but also determines the properties of the electrical signals, acting as both conductor and composer rather than only conductor as previously believed.