Cardiovascular research themes
Cardiac arrhythmia
Cardiac arrhythmias occur when the heart’s electrical activity becomes chaotic and it can no longer pump blood efficiently. Ageing, certain conditions such as heart failure, and even intense exercise training can increase the risk of arrhythmias.
We investigate the mechanisms that lead to arrhythmias, interventions that reduce the probably of arrhythmias developing and the best strategies for terminating sustained arrhythmias.
We use a variety of techniques at different scales to investigate cardiac function. Our approaches range from measures of gene/protein expression and their spatial organisation throughout the heart, through to detailed imaging of cells and the whole heart using optical imaging and magnetic resonance imaging. These experimental measures are integrated with multi-scale computational modelling to develop a detailed understanding of the heart’s operation in health and disease.
View a list of academics witihn Cardiac Arrhythmia
View a list of postdoctoral researchers within Cardiac Arrhythmia
Key researchers in the area
|
Name |
Area of expertise |
|
Dr Al Benson |
Computational modelling; magnetic resonance imaging; optical imaging |
|
Dr Mike Colman |
Arrhythmia mechanisms from cell to organ; computational modelling; intracellular calcium handling; abnormal spontaneous excitation |
|
Dr Izzy Jayasinghe |
Imaging the spatial organisation and nanoscale topology of electrical couplings between muscle cells of the healthy heart and their remodelling/redistribution in the pro-arrhythmic heart |
| Dr Matthew Lancaster Lecturer |
Normal pacemaking of the heart from the sinoatrial node; atrial arrhythmias and sources of ectopic pacemaking; arrhythmias in athletes; factors predisposing to arrhythmias in old age |
| Professor Derek Steele Professor of Cell Physiology |
Electrophysiology; confocal imaging; calcium signalling; compartmentalised signaling |
| Professor Ed White Professor in Cardiac Physiology |
Investigation of the effects of heart failure and mechanical stimulation on the electrical activity of the heart using single cell voltage clamp; whole heart optical mapping, in vivo ECG by telemetry |