Multi-Scale Physics of Normal and Diseased Heart: from Ion Channels to Whole Organ
Coordinators: Hiroshi Ashikaga, Emilia Entcheva, Flavio H. Fenton, Daisuke Sato, and Yohannes Shiferaw
Scientific Advisors: Eberhard Bodenschatz, Alain Karma, Sanjiv Narayan, and M Cristina Marchetti
Cardiac arrhythmia is a leading cause of death, but its underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. This failure is largely due to the complexity of the heart which is a multi-scale system that depends on nonlinear interactions across a vast range of spatial and temporal scales. Unraveling the underlying mechanisms for arrhythmias requires an integrated approach that will require state of the art experimental methods along with theoretical and computational insights.
This program will bring together experimentalists, clinicians, and researchers from physics, mathematics, and engineering to explore arrhythmias from the molecular to the whole organ scale. The first week of the program will explore recent progress on the molecular basis of cardiac arrhythmias, specifically examining how genetic disruptions can initiate these conditions. In week two, the program will focus on the latest progress on cellular-level phenomena such as disturbances in calcium signaling and the formation of dangerous electrical excitations. The third week will explore tissue-scale phenomena such as ectopic excitations and reentry. The final week will be dedicated to translating these scientific insights into clinical applications. Throughout the program, there will be a strong emphasis on fostering collaboration between experimentalists and theorists, with the goal of developing innovative tools for diagnosing, predicting, and treating arrhythmias.