Integrative Myocardial Physiology/Pathophysiology B – MPPB

Topics

• Mechanisms of ischemia/reperfusion tissue injury and post injury responses: myocardial stunning, infarction, hibernation, early post-ischemic cardiac remodeling, cellular and molecular mechanisms that govern the biology of stem cells in ischemic heart disease. Myocardial remodeling and fibrosis: extracellular matrix reorganization and collagen metabolism; cytoskeleton.
• Metabolic dysfunction, mechanisms of myocardial cell death (apoptosis/necrosis) mitochondrial dysfunction and autophagy. Influence of metabolic dysfunction related to both health and disease, including impact of lifestyle (diet, exercise, nutrition, environmental science), age and sex in disease process.
• Control of coronary blood flow: post-ischemic coronary vascular abnormalities, coronary endothelial function, angiogenesis, collateral circulation; hypertension.
• Novel methods for cardiac imaging: approaches to assess myocardial metabolism, injury, and fibrosis.
• Signal transduction: mechanisms related to myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury, including preconditioning, postconditioning. Mechanical signal transduction; stress-strain relationships; effects of therapeutic interventions such as pacing and ventricular assist devices.
• Drug-induced cardiovascular toxicity: including pathology developed during or following treatment for disorders such as myocardial dysfunction, ischemia, hypotension, hypertension, QT-interval prolongation, arrhythmias and thromboembolism.
• Cardioprotection, cardiac repair and regeneration: cardiac repair/regeneration following ischemic injury, cardiac bioengineering, including strategies to support stem cell therapy, gene therapy and the use of bioengineered cells and tissues.
• Electrophysiological consequences of acquired heart diseases: including those related to ischemia, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, heart failure, hypertrophy, and heart transplant; mechanisms and therapy of cardiac arrhythmias and ion channel dysfunction.
• Cellular mechanisms of arrhythmogenesis: identification of genes and proteins that modulate electrical activity; electrophysiological consequences of acquired heart diseases including ischemia, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, heart failure, hypertrophy, and heart transplant.
• Excitability, electrical propagation and repolarization in normal and diseased hearts: structure and function of cardiac ion channels, ion exchangers, and ion pumps; impulse propagation; excitation contraction coupling; conduction system; intercellular communication including gap junctions/connexins; molecular and genetic evaluations of ion channels.
• Computational and systems modeling to predict arrhythmias: mathematical modeling of ion channels, myocytes, multi-cellular tissue and the whole heart; development and evaluation of interventions and biomedical devices to diagnose and treat cardiac rhythm disorders.

Shared Interests and Overlaps

MPPB and Myocardial Physiology/ Pathophysiology A (MPPA) have shared interests in broad topics of cardiotoxicology. Applications that emphasize cardiotoxic effects resulting from chemotherapeutic agents or environmental toxicants will be reviewed in MPPA. Applications that emphasize drug-induced cardiotoxicology generally due to off-target effects during treatment of cardiovascular disorders will be reviewed in MPPB.

MPPB and Myocardial Physiology/ Pathophysiology A (MPPA) have shared interests in metabolism and metabolic dysfunction. Applications that emphasize investigating the impact of systemic metabolic disorders - including diabetes, obesity and hypercholesterolemia, associated with cardiac dysfunction, hypertrophy and heart failure will be reviewed in MPPA. Applications that emphasize research related to diet and metabolism and its impact associated with ischemia/reperfusion tissue injury and arrhythmogenesis will be reviewed in MPPB.

MPPB and Myocardial Physiology/ Pathophysiology A (MPPA) have shared interests in cardiac repair. Applications that emphasize proposals involving remodeling and associated contractility deficit will be reviewed in MPPA. Applications that emphasize regeneration following ischemic injury will be reviewed in MPPB.

MPPB and Basic Biology of Blood, Heart and Vasculature (BBHV) have shared interests in topics associated with mechanisms of myocardial cell death, cellular mechanisms of arrhythmogenesis and aspects of electrical excitability & propagation of signals between normal and diseased hearts. Applications that emphasize these topics in cells and tissues will be reviewed in BBHV. Applications that emphasize these topics in in-vivo studies will be reviewed in MPPB.

MPPB and Modeling and Analysis of Biological Systems (MABS) have shared interests in areas of mathematical modeling and computer simulations. Applications that emphasize modeling methods, mathematical principles, or analytical approaches in the setting of cardiac arrhythmias will be reviewed in MABS. Applications that emphasize cardiac arrhythmia modeling mechanisms that range from molecular, to cellular and organ level studies will be reviewed in MPPB.

MPPB and Clinical Integrative Cardiovascular and Hematological Sciences (CCHS) have shared interests in areas of clinical arrhythmia and translational and clinical electrophysiology. Applications that emphasize arrhythmia clinical trials will be reviewed in CCHS. Applications that emphasize patient-oriented research and focus more on the mechanistic aspects of human cardiac electrophysiology and arrhythmias will be reviewed in MPPB.