Exposure to environmental stressors is tied to arrhythmia, cardiac arrest, and heart failure. Our team seeks to validate and better understand these associations. We investigate how environmental stressors impair cardiac conduction and contraction in both rodents and humans, with particular interest in the nervous system’s role. We study the impacts of multiple stressors and toxicants, including e-cigarette aerosols, extreme heat, and air pollutants from many sources (automobiles, urban atmospheres, and consumer products).
- What are the neural and cellular pathways underlying environmental stressor-induced myocardial dysfunction and remodeling?
- How do environmental stressors such as tobacco product aerosols or extreme ambient temperatures adversely affect cardiac function, intracellular signaling, and neuroregulation?
- What health-related traits (e.g., disease, pregnancy, exercise, etc.) influence susceptibility to environmental stressor exposures and why?
Key Research Areas
- Cardiac Electrophysiology
- Arrhythmias
- Autonomic Nervous System
- Electronic Cigarettes
- Air Pollution
- Extreme Heat
- Cardiac Dysfunction
- Heart Failure
- Long QT Syndrome
- Exercise
Current Projects
- Cardiotoxicity of e-cigarette constituents (flavorants, aldehydes, nicotine)
- Arrhythmogenic and autonomic impacts of extreme heat exposure
- Role of the autonomic nervous system in environmental stressor-induced cardiac electrical dysfunction