Cardiac Rhythm Laboratory

Research Overview

Cardiac Rhythm Laboratory

The research in our laboratory can be categorized into two areas: a) Integrated systems level investigation of cardiovascular function and dysfunction and b) Cellular and sub-cellular level investigation of cardiac electrophysiology. The research conducted in our laboratory has both, applied and basic components.

For the systems level studies, we investigate the dynamics of control systems that maintain circulatory stability. Tools such as linear and non-linear systems and signal analysis are used in these investigations. Currently ongoing studies explore the role of cardio-respiratory dynamic interaction and neural regulatory mechanisms that disturb stability of circulation. There are three specific health related issues that are the focus of these activities, one is the effects of environmental particulate and aerosol exposure on cardiovascular morbidity, the second is disturbances to regulation which culminate in syncope in astronauts after exposure to microgravity environment, and the third is development of predictors of maturation and development in neonates. Data are collected in studies that use controlled chamber based exposures, surrogate models of microgravity environments and from the NICU at the University of Kentucky Children’s Hospital.

In the area of cardiac electrophysiology, our focus is on determining the mechanisms that lead to a disturbance of the rhythmic electrical activity of the heart to degenerate into lethal ventricular arrhythmia that leads to sudden cardiac death. We are particularly interested in exploring fundamental cellular level mechanisms that will ultimately lead to development of better predictors of adverse electrophysiological events and in development of better medical devices such as defibrillators and pacemakers. In these studies, mathematical modeling and experiments are conducted to study dynamic changes in electrical function of heart from events that occur at cellular level to those that are observed in the ECG.

For these studies, we collaborate with investigators at the University of Kentucky Medical Center.

Facilities:

One of the two facilities within our laboratory is fully equipped to conduct systems level physiology studies in adult volunteers and includes equipment to make measurements of ECG, non-invasive continuous blood pressure, trans-cranial Doppler, capnography, pulse oximetry, airflow measurements, impedance cardiography and a tilt table.

The second facility is equipped with instrumentation that permits intra and extra cellular electrical recordings, a 256 channel data acquisition system, a 256 channel high speed analog switch, high speed digital fluorescence based optical imaging at micro and macro scale, Xenon arc light sources, vibration isolated workstations, benches for development of electronic hardware, computers for data acquisition, analysis and simulation, platforms for real-time implementation of developed algorithms using floating point DSP microprocessors.

Personnel who work in our laboratory typically have a Biomedical, Electrical, or Mechanical Engineering background. Examples of engineering tools that are frequently used in our research are application of real-time neural networks or adaptive signal processing, mathematical modeling, some degree of electronics hardware development such as TTL addressable interfaces, analog multiplexing, moderate speed analog switching, and custom program development utilizing real-time A/D and D/A conversion.

Developed by Pooja Vijaygopal, March 2008.

Personnel

Laboratory Director

Abhijit Patwardhan (abhijit@uky.edu)

Current Graduate Students

Anuj Agarwal Ph.D program (anujagarwal@uky.edu)

Vijaylakshmi Ayanampudi M.S. program (vlayan2@uky.edu)

Kathleen Guzman M.S. program (kmguzm2@uky.edu)

Stuart Traxel M.S. program (sjtrax21@uky.edu)

Pooja Vijaygopal M.S. program (poojavijaygopal@uky.edu)

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Web page last modified on 04.07.2008

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