Join us for our next Bioengineering seminar:

Assessing Cardiac Function and Treatment Strategies from Development to the Pediatric Population

Stephanie Lindsey
UC San Diego

Wednesday, April 22
Noon – 1 p.m.
177 Stanley Hall

Abstract:
Congenital heart defects (CHDs) are among the most severe congenital abnormalities, accounting for over 29 percent of deaths from developmental abnormalities. Of these, approximately 25 percent require palliative surgery in the first year of life. While the precise origins of CHDs remain unknown, they arise from disturbances in cardiac morphogenesis, a complex interconnected process involving changing hemodynamic forces concomitant with cellular and molecular signaling. Despite advances in surgical and medical management, their potential to restore cardiac function remains compromised, largely due to continued complications from implanted devices. To that end, I explore innovative ways to advance treatment options for patients suffering from CHD, through the identification of new mechanistic insights into the origin of such defects and the optimization of current treatment options. To understand causation, I rely on the chick embryo as a mechanical model of development. Through the use of non-linear optics, I minimally invasively occlude flow inside the cardiac outflow tract and detail resulting structural and hemodynamic changes. I subsequently use numerical simulations to distinguish between the immediate effects of flow redistribution and longer-term compensation mechanisms. Towards optimization, I lay the groundwork for multiscale modeling of single ventricle physiology patients in the adult and pediatric populations and discuss implications on maternal-fetal health.