MSc by Research in Cardiovascular - Cardiac Arrhythmia

University of Leeds

Cardiac arrhythmias occur when the heart’s electrical activity becomes chaotic and it can no longer pump blood efficiently. Ageing, certain conditions such as heart failure, and even intense exercise training can increase the risk of arrhythmias. We investigate the mechanisms that lead to arrhythmias, interventions that reduce the probably of arrhythmias developing and the best strategies for terminating sustained arrhythmias. We use a variety of techniques at different scales to investigate cardiac function. Our approaches range from measures of gene/protein expression and their spatial organisation throughout the heart, through to detailed imaging of cells and the whole heart using optical imaging and magnetic resonance imaging. These experimental measures are integrated with multi-scale computational modelling to develop a detailed understanding of the heart’s operation in health and disease.