The human heart is both a marvel of biology and a living demonstration of physical principles in action, uniting molecular, cellular, and organ-level dynamics into a single rhythmic system. Each heartbeat arises from the collective behavior of billions of cells communicating through waves of electrical excitation, nonlinear signals that can synchronize into steady rhythms producing the regular contractions of the heart.

During arrhythmias, these electrical waves can become disorganized, creating complex and irregular patterns such as spiral waves that drive uncoordinated contractions, disrupt normal blood flow, and can become life-threatening. In both normal and arrhythmic conditions, the organization of these waves exhibits emergent behavior that arises not only across multiple scales but also across dimensions, from the dynamics of a single cell (0D) to one-dimensional strands of tissue, two-dimensional wave fronts, and the full three-dimensional geometry of the whole organ. At each level, emergent patterns and instabilities arise from the interplay between the dynamics of ion channels governing current flow across individual cell membranes and the collective cells coupling within the complex architecture of cardiac tissue, which together shape the propagation of electrical waves and resulting mechanical contractions.

In this Teachers’ Conference, we explore how physics, mathematics, combined using computer simulations and experiments reveal the principles that govern the heart’s rhythm, and how this understanding is leading to new ways to control and prevent cardiac disorders. Topics will include excitable-media dynamics, wave propagation and spiral waves, defibrillation, and emerging therapeutic technologies such as pulsed-field ablation. These concepts will be discussed through the lens of fundamental physical ideas such as diffusion, nonlinearity, chaos, and pattern formation in living systems, highlighting how they can be incorporated into the classroom to engage students at the interface of physics, biology, and medicine.

The conference includes talk by speakers who are leaders in experimental, theoretical, and computational biophysics, participating in the KITP program “Multi-Scale Physics of Normal and Diseased Heart: From Ion Channels to Whole Organ.” In addition to talks, the conference will feature interactive presentations (experimental and computational) where participants engage directly with demonstrations that illustrate key physical and biological principles, activities they can later adapt for use in their own classrooms to teach biophysics.

In order to accommodate participants' holiday travel plans, the conference will run from 9 AM - 3 PM.

Particle Physics: At the Heart of Matter

Coordinators: Kenneth Cecire and Shane Wood

On Friday, April 3, KITP will also host the workshop "Particle Physics: At the Heart of Matter," presented by QuarkNet. The full-day workshop (9 AM - 4:30 PM) will focus on activities from QuarkNet's Data Activities portfolio and explore particle physics leading to connections with BioPhysics, the topic of Saturday's conference.

In order to participate in the Friday workshop, you must also register for the Saturday teachers' conference. If the workshop is over-subscribed, priority for that activity will be given to physics teachers and to applicants with less QuarkNet experience.

A full description of the workshop content will be published in January.