Cardiovascular Sciences Research

Cardiovascular research is one of the key areas of interest of the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics. Research by our faculty members focuses on a variety of subjects including cardiovascular ion channels, calcium handling proteins, heart development, cardiac diseases such as cardiac arrhythmias, hypertrophy and heart failure, and multiple imaging modalities including magnetic resonance imaging, echocardiography, and confocal and multi-focal imaging.

Ground-breaking findings made in our department include the development of animal models for sudden infant death syndrome, the identification of new proteins involved in the development of atrial fibrillation and heart failure, the generation of new imaging modalities to study heart disease at the cellular and whole animal level, and the identification of the cause of heart stroke. These research programs are supported by substantial extramural grant support, and have led to publications of important new findings in high impact scientific journals.

Through the development of a state-of-the-art mouse phenotyping facility, our faculty and trainees are able to interrogate the effects of changes in the genome on cardiovascular and skeletal muscle function. Faculty and trainees in our department work closed by other cardiovascular scientists and clinicians at Baylor College of Medicine and affiliated hospitals. Our research efforts are well integrated within the larger cardiovascular community at BCM, and provide an excellent environment for collaborative research and strong training opportunities for graduate students and postdoctoral trainees.