Date/Time Date(s) - 06/02/20252:30 pm - 3:30 pm
Speaker: Khady Diagne (McGill University, Bub Lab)
Location: Hamilton Hall, Room 410 / Zoom
Title: The remarkable rhythms of cardiac parasystole.
Abstract: Premature Ventricular Contractions (PVCs) are early heartbeats originating in the ventricles. PVCs are generally benign but if recurrent, they impair cardiac function and can lead to fatal arrhythmias. In parasystole, an ectopic pacemaker in the ventricles triggers these early beats and competes with the sinoatrial node for pacing of the heart. We study the dynamics generated by two oscillators with different frequencies in excitable cardiac tissue culture using optogenetics techniques. The observed rhythms, which can be modeled using cellular automata and studied analytically, show unexpected regularities related to classic results in number theory. We apply the results to identify parasystolic rhythms in patients with recurrent PVCs.