We are interested in understanding heterocellular biophysical interactions between key cell types in the heart, both in healthy myocardium and following cardiac remodeling post-injury. More specifically, we study the functional relevance of non-myocytes for cardiac electrophysiology. To this end, we combine multi-scale structural and functional imaging, electrophysiological measurements, optogenetic approaches and computational modelling. We also develop novel optogenetic tools for modulating the activity of excitable cells, such as our recently established light-gated K+ channel system PAC/K.
Keywords
optogenetics; heterocellular interactions; electrophysiology; cardiac non-myocytes; light-gated K+ channel