CVRTI Metabolism Program
CVRTI Metabolism Program
Laboratories in the CVRTI Metabolism Program investigate how alterations in bioenergetics contribute to various adult, congenital, and inherited forms of heart failure, using a combination of cutting-edge imaging, proteomic, metabolomic, and electrophysiological techniques.
The program consists of Dipayan Chaudhuri, MD, PhD (Director), Sarah Franklin, PhD, Guillaume Hoareau, DVM, PhD, and Joseph Palatinus, MD, PhD. The Chaudhuri Lab is exploring how altering mitochondrial ion transport may be a potential therapy for heart failure and metabolic diseases. The Franklin Lab’s research provides deep insights into how the control of transcription alters the progression of cardiac disease, partly via the control of metabolic pathways. The Hoareau Lab is focused on mitochondria-targeting therapies that prevent hemorrhagic shock and cardiac ischemia-reperfusion injury, particularly in military warfighters. The Palatinus Lab is focused on understanding how metabolic dysfunction triggers inflammation in arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy, a genetic heart disease with no treatments available, where healthy cardiac tissue is slowly replaced by scar and fat. These groups with complementary skills share a common goal of developing potential therapies by identifying new pathways at the intersection of metabolism and heart failure.
CVRTI Electrophysiology Investigators
CVRTI’s Academic Publications on Electrophysiology
What is Electrophysiology?
Each of our hearts contains several billion individual muscle cells. Every second of our lives, these billions of cells need to contract and relax together for the heart to work effectively as a pump. Fortunately, our hearts have an electrical system that coordinates the individual cells, telling them when to contract and when to relax—the electrical system functions of bioelectricity.
The cells have individual ion channels that allow bioelectrical current in the form of charged ions to flow across the cell membrane, changing the voltage across each membrane. The cells also have channels between them, allowing the rapid spread of bioelectrical ions across the heart. A disturbance of the heart’s electrical system is caused by an arrhythmia.
Severe arrhythmias can cause the heart to stop, which is responsible for up to 300,000 deaths per year in the United States. At the CVRTI, we have a long history of pioneering in the field of electrophysiology research, including the genetic and acquired basis of heart electricity and heart arrhythmias. Investigators are now developing innovative methods to treat heart arrhythmias and prevent their occurrence, aiming to safeguard heart health through the understanding of channels, biology, and membrane proteins involved in cardiac bioelectricity.
Electrophysiology Articles
What to Expect and How to Prepare for an Electrophysiology Procedure For Your Heart
What is Cardiac Arrhythmia?
