Mathematics Colloquia and Seminars

Return to Colloquia & Seminar listing

Cardiac pacing provides a rich opportunity for mathematical study due to the dynamic interplay of robustness and flexibility required for healthy function. The sinoatrial node (SAN) is key to pacing, but several components of SAN function remain unclear. In this talk, we discuss two recent projects addressing problems related to the rhythmicity and pacing activity of the SAN at multiple scales. In the first project, we use model reduction and dynamical systems analysis to elucidate the rate-limiting steps for the subcellular kinetics of changes in SAN cell firing frequency resulting from sympathetic nervous system activity. Our results shed light on the key biochemical factors involved in sympathetic surges, and generate implications for pharmaceutical interventions for pathologies involving cardiac sympathetic dysregulation. In the second project, we use simulations and bifurcation analysis to investigate the role of size and curvature of the SAN or an ischemic region on its ability to drive action potentials in a neighboring excitable region of tissue. This elucidates how emergent properties of the physiology and geometry of a spontaneously active region impact threshold behavior for periodic propagating waves.

** Note the special time and date of this seminar