Past Event: CSEM Student Forum

How does your heart beat? An Introduction to Cardiac Electromechanics

Benjamin Thomas, CSEM Graduate Student

Abstract

As we go about our lives, a simple heartbeat is often taken for granted. A normal heart rate is between 60 to 100 beats per minute, meaning in one year, your heart must beat between 32 and 52 million times without failure. In this talk, we will look into the underlying biological mechanisms that make this possible. We will begin with the electrophysiology of ion channels in cells and work up to signal propagation across tissue showing how it couples with cardiac mechanics. If time permits, we will then show how pathologies such as myocardial infarctions and arrhythmias are modeled, highlighting the importance of computational medicine in the future of healthcare.