Virginia Tech® home

Archived Seminar: Understanding the regulation of cardiac contractility by Transient Outward Potassium Channels: How to make an efficient pump

Special Seminar presented by the Center for Vascular and Heart Research and the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC

Archived Seminar: Understanding the regulation of cardiac contractility by Transient Outward Potassium Channels: How to make an efficient pump

Date: May 19, 2021
Time: 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.

About this Seminar

Dr. Backx will discuss how the timing of the outward currents produced by Transient Outward Potassium (Ito) channels control the timing of calcium release from the Sarcoplasmic Reticulum.  This phenomenon leads to the synchronization of contraction across the wall of the ventricle, which is otherwise inherently heterogeneous due to conduction delays from the Purkinje Fibers to the working myocardium. The impact of the Ito Channels on calcium release is mediated by its effects on early repolarization of the action potential (i.e., called Phase 1 or the Cardiac Notch). Changes in early repolarization, in turn, directly control the reverse-mode activity of the Sodium-Calcium Exchanger, thereby driving inward movement of calcium with (energetically efficient) outward sodium movement. Dr. Backx will also discuss work in his lab on cellular mechanisms of atrial fibrillation and the use of cardiomyocytes obtained from patient-derived induced-Pluripotent Stem Cells to understand cardiomyopathies associated with mutations in selected cardiac sodium channels.

 

You May Also Be Interested In...

  • Home Item
    The Bitter Truth: Alcohol Use and Its Effects on Chemosensory Function , home

    Oct. 3, 2025, 11:00 a.m. | Paule Valery Joseph, Ph.D., Lasker Clinical Research Scholar, NIH Distinguished Scholar; Acting Chief, Section of Sensory Science and Metabolism Unit, Co-Director of the National Smell and Taste Center, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders; National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Center for Health Behaviors Research and Addiction Recovery Research Center

  • Home Item
    Organization and Control of Hippocampal Networks , home

    Oct. 17, 2025, 11:00 a.m. | Ivan Soltesz, Ph.D., James R. Doty Professor of Neurosurgery and Neurosciences, Stanford University | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Center for Neurobiology Research

  • Home Item
    Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture , home

    Oct. 30, 2025, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Jennifer Munson, Ph.D., Professor and Director, Cancer Research Center — Roanoke, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute; Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, Virginia Tech College of Engineering | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture

  • Home Item
    Thinking the Right Thoughts , home

    Oct. 31, 2025, 11 a.m. | Nathaniel Daw, Ph.D., Professor, Computational and Theoretical Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Princeton University | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Center for Human Neuroscience Research

  • Home Item
    Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture , home

    Nov. 6, 2025, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Teresa Lambe, Ph.D., OBE, Calleva Head of Vaccine Immunology, Professor of Vaccinology and Immunology, University of Oxford | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture

Peter Backx, Ph.D., DVM

Peter Backx, Ph.D., DVM

Professor, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, York University

Senior Scientist, Division of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and Division of Cardiology, University Health Network, Toronto