Integrating Mechanical, Electrical, Metabolic, and Signaling Events in Computer Modeling of the Heart
Sponsored by the APS Physiological Genomics Group

In order to understand disease pathology and progression, subcellular events causing disturbances or malfunction at the cellular level must be translated to effects on whole-organ function. Yet the challenges to providing a quantitative modeling framework to investigate the coupling of cardiac energy demands, metabolism, and coronary substrate transport in disease are significant. For the heart, this requires bringing together quantitative descriptions of mitochondrial metabolism and cellular biochemistry, cellular and tissue transport processes, coronary network morphology and blood flow, cardiac mechanics, excitation-contraction coupling and ion transport, and cardiac adrenergic regulation. Development of such a large-scale integrative model will require cooperation of several groups pursuing different aspects of the problem. This proposed symposium would bring together the leading groups working on computer modeling of cardiac function with the aims of presenting the current state-of-the-art and determining the steps necessary to make future progress.