Physiology 28th Annual Graduate Research Day speaker: Dr. Daniël A. Pijnappels

Keynote Lecture: "Biological defibrillation"

The implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) is the product of electronic engineering and contains metal, software, and wires to establish a system in which both a detector (i.e. sensor of electrical activity) and effector (i.e. high voltage electroshock generator) are incorporated. Nature also makes use of such detector–effector systems where they control different physiological processes. Such systems are the product of cells, genes, and proteins and involve a regulated variable, set point, and signaling between detector and effector. Given their highly conservative nature, these biological systems are considered to be effective means to rapidly respond to sudden changes that, if sustained, may cause harm. Blood flow and immune regulation are examples of such systems. In contrast, the heart appears to be devoid of a robust biological detector–effector system for counteracting sustained hazardous arrhythmias. The heart does however, have many different ion channels, which generate various electrical currents by opening and closing. This so-called gating is mainly voltage-dependent, meaning that certain ion channels in the cardiomyocyte membrane only open and close upon sensing a certain voltage. An ion channel can therefore be considered as a functional detector–effector unit. This notion creates a rationale to engineer an ion channel protein and integrate it into the plasma membranes of cardiomyocytes to serve the same function as an ICD device, namely rapid detection and termination of arrhythmias. Such fully biological defibrillation would not only have the benefit of being devoid of any hardware, but would also be pain-free given its mode of arrhythmia termination.

In person Seminar: details in attached poster below