We focus on understanding the mechanisms of 1) electrical activation & propagation and 2) cellular development & homeostasis in the healthy heart, on how these processes are disrupted in the diseased heart, and how this knowledge could be used for the development of novel, biology-driven and effective therapeutics for human cardiac disease, especially heart rhythm disturbances. Here, one of the main goals is to allow the heart itself to detect and neutralize pathological processes -i.e. to become the remedy- by integrating various aspects of (synthetic) biology, mathematics, engineering and medicine. Ultimately, we hope that our efforts will help to provide a sustainable and comprehensive improvement in the prospects of cardiac health.
To achieve these goals, different strategies and techniques are employed, but of special interest is the use of viral and cellular vectors for tailored modification of specific transcriptional and cellular processes. A schematic overview of our approach is shown below.
