• Gryphon Login
  • MyCourses
  • Alumni
  • UCLA Health
  • Contact Us
Prospective Students

Prospective Students

Prospective Students
  • Admissions
    Procedure & Timelines
    • Admissions Timeline
    • Admissions Procedure
    • Basis of Selection
    • COVID-19 Impacts on Admissions
    • Housing Information
    • Interview Process
    • Prerequisites
    General Information
    • Statement of Diversity
    • Mission Statement
    • Curriculum Resdesign
    • Honor Code
    • FAQs
    • Admissions Brochure
    • Admissions Timeline
    • Admission Procedure
    • Basis of Selection
    • Competencies
    • COVID-19 Impact on Admissions
    • DACA Applicants
    • DGSOM Mission Statement
    • Equity and Diversity Inclusion
    • FAQs
    • Honor Code
    • Housing Information
    • Interview Process
    • Virtual Events
  • Outreach & Pipeline Programs
    Summer Pre-Health and Postbaccaluareate Programs
    • UCLA SHPEP
    • UCLA PREP
    • UCLA RAP
    Outreach and Recruitment
    • Contact and Events
    • Mailing List
    • Summer Pre-Health and Postbaccalaureate Programs
    • Stay Connected
    • Join our Mailing List
  • Financial Aid & Scholarships
  • Degrees & Programs
  • Curriculum
  • Student Life
    Why Choose UCLA
    • Research
    • Clinical Work
    • Service Opportunities
    • Global Health Impact
    • Why You'll Love LA
    Campus Life
    • Student Organizations
    • Annual Events
    • Day in the Life
    • Around Campus
    • Photo Galleries
    • Medical and Research News
    • Medical Student Council
    • Geffy Guide
    • Search Campus and Health News
    • Service Opportunities
    • Global Health Impact
    • Why You'll Love LA
    • Photo Galleries
    • Day in the Life
    • Around Campus
    • Medical and Research News
    • Search Campus and Health News
  • How to Apply
  • Gryphon Login
  • MyCourses
  • Alumni
  • UCLA Health
  • Contact Us

Prospective Students

Search Campus and Health News

Search Campus and Health News

Search Campus and Health News

  • Health News
  • A Day in the Life
  • Around Campus
  • Medical and Research News
  • Health News
  • A Day in the Life
  • Around Campus
  • Medical and Research News
  1. Home
  2. Prospective Students
  3. Student Life
  4. Search Campus and Health News

Search Campus and Health News

Share this

Medical and Research News

Title

Cutting-edge model of the heart will help scientists study new therapies

Medical and Research News

Date
06/24/2016
Article

A team of UCLA doctors, scientists and engineers have created a detailed computer model that shows how the heart’s electrical signals are affected by congestive heart failure. The “virtual heart” will help medical researchers study new drug therapies that could treat heart failure.

The model can simulate tiny, subtle changes in the heart’s cells and tissues as well as the larger impact on the entire heart — the changes are then shown in a corresponding electrocardiogram, or ECG, a tool commonly used to diagnose heart abnormalities.

The research was published June 23 in PLOS Computational Biology.

One of the senior authors of the paper was William Klug, a UCLA mechanical and aerospace engineering professor who was killed by a gunman in his office on June 1.

? UCLA establishes fund to support William Klug’s family

“Bill led the ‘virtual heart’ project,” said study’s principal investigator Alan Garfinkel, who holds faculty appointments in integrative biology and physiology in the UCLA College and in medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “His work will live on in this model, which can potentially help many who suffer from arrhythmias in congestive heart failure.”

Congestive heart failure, commonly referred to as CHF, occurs when the heart cannot pump enough blood. It is a leading cause of death. Patients also die at an accelerated rate from electrical disturbances called arrhythmias, the subject of the UCLA study.

The model is based on a rabbit’s heart. It can show what happens to the heart cells and tissue when the levels and flow of calcium, potassium and sodium ions, all required for the heart to work, are changed. The model also shows, for the first time, what happens for the organ as a whole when various critical chemicals and electrophysiologic components of a healthy working heart are altered by disease.

? Video: The UCLA heart model during ventricular fibrillation

The researchers said the invention could help doctors zero in on effective new drug therapies for heart failure because it should make it easier to understand how certain medications work, and when and where in the heart they can be most effective.

The study also revealed that ventricular fibrillation, a condition in which heart beat becomes fragmented and erratic, can be caused by a slowdown in cellular processes at the top of the heart during heart failure. The researchers also used their model to plan a new drug strategy against this heart failure form of fibrillation.

The study’s lead authors are Aditya Ponnaluri, a UCLA graduate student in mechanical engineering, and Luigi Perotti, a postdoctoral scholar in radiological sciences and in bioengineering. Other authors are Michael Liu, a graduate student in molecular, cellular and integrative physiology; Zhilin Qu, professor of medicine; Dr. James Weiss, chief of cardiology and professor of medicine; and Daniel Ennis, professor of radiology and bioengineering.

The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association.

Like Us on Facebook Follow Us on Twitter Subscribe to Our Videos on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Connect with Us on LinkedIn Follow us on Pinterest Follow us on Flickr Follow us on Sharecare
Top 10 U.S. Medical Schools
  • Giving
  • Publications
  • Newsroom
  • Weekly Digest
  • Directory
  • Contact Us
  • Diversity
  • Emergency
  • Maps & Directions
  • UC Regents
  • Abuse Free
  • Volunteer
  • Biomed Library
  • Disability Resources
  • UCLA Health
  • Smoke-Free
  • Sitemap
  • Terms of Use
Top 10 U.S. Medical Schools
Like Us on Facebook Follow Us on Twitter Subscribe to Our Videos on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Connect with Us on LinkedIn Follow us on Pinterest Follow us on Flickr Follow us on Sharecare