Projects

Selected Sponsored Research

• Excitable Hybrid Automata (NSF grant CCF05-23863)
  http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~eha

• Bioelectricity in Hybrid Microstructured Cardiac Tissue (NSF grant BES05-3336)
  BESC

FIGURE Engineered cardiac cell construct in our lab, showing mature cytoskeletal organization (A), when grown on microtextured elastic guiding surface (B). Normal electrical activity (action potentials and intracellular calcium) and mechanical activity (uniaxial strain) were recorded by fluorescence techniques (C). Electrical propagation map (activation times) during an ectopic beat (D) and mechanical map, represented by streamlines of contraction (E), were reconstructed using image-processing algorithms. Arrow indicates the direction of the grooves.

A non-exhaustive list of current projects:

1. Growing functional cardiac tissue in the lab: 3D biodegradable scaffold development using nano- and microstructure controlling techniques and non-conventional materials; cell-scaffold responses, cardiac cell functional performance.

2. Arrhythmias in a dish and in silico: fluorescent mapping of propagation of electrical waves (voltage and calcium) in engineered cardiac tissue and computer modeling of the same processes; applying time-frequency analysis and nonlinear dynamics techniques.

3. Cardiac cell self-organization and its use in designing experimental disease models or natural pacemakers: how do excitable and contractile cells respond to surface topography; can we control their electromechanics by simple 3D geometrical cues?

4. Geodesic cytoskeletal structures in cardiac cells and their response to mechanical and geometrical cues.
   
5. High-resolution electromechanical mapping in engineered cardiac tissue using fluorescence-based techniques: development of optical mapping equipment employing novel design ideas; advanced image processing algorithms to assess structure and function in engineered cardiac tissue.

6. Microfabrication for controlled cell growth: the use of non-conventional methods and materials for designing 3D cell growth platforms, microfluidics channels, wavy fibers, etc.

7. Non-invasive optical measurements of oxygen levels in engineered cardiac tissue: an enabling technology as a functional assessment tool during the tissue growth and developement in the CO2 incubator.