Page 37 - CBAC Newsletter 2017

ncements (July 2016- July 2017)

Jonathan Silva, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering will conduct the
research with a five-year, $1.9 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of
the National Institutes of Health. Specifically, Silva and his team will study how small molecules and
proteins interact with ion channels in the heart to cause and prevent arrhythmia, when the heart beats
too fast, too slow, or is too unstable. Link: https://engineering.wustl.edu/news/Pages/Common-heart-
ailment-target-of-new-WashU-Engineering-research.aspx
He also received a $450,000 grant from the Children's Discovery Institute for research in improving
the outcomes in the pediatric cardiac catheterazation lab using augmented reality. His research will
use mixed augmented reality to guide cardiac ablation and catherterization procedures.
Both Jonathan Silva, and Jeanne Nerbonne, the Alumni Endowed Professor of Molecular Biology and
Pharmacology and director of the Center for Cardiovascular Research and their collaborators took a
closer look at the sodium ion channels responsible for creating the electrical signal that makes the
heartbeat.They found that certain sodium subunits attached to the main protein in different places.
It was an unexpected result that could lead to better drug delivery and efficacy for patients with heart
arrhythmia. Link: https://source.wustl.edu/2017/07/a-sodium-surprise/
Jianmin Cui, PhD, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and collaborators in three labs at WashU
are studying the BK channel, which has been found to be important in regulating neuronal function
and blood pressure. Link: https://source.wustl.edu/2017/03/researchers-connect-molecular-func-
tion-to-high-blood-pressure-diseases

Title Changes

Mitchell Faddis, MD, PhD has been promoted to Professor of Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular
Division. He is also the Director of Electrophysiology.

Jennifer Silva, MD, in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Cardiology, has been
promoted to Associate Professor. She is also the Director of Pediatric Electrophysiology.

Steven C. George, MD, PhD, Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Elvera &
William Stuckenberg Professor of Technology & Human Affairs has been succeeded by Lori Setton,
the Lucy and Stanley Lopata Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering. George will be the
Professor of Biomedical Engineering at UC Davis.

Scott Marrus, MD, PhD, was a research assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and
Systems Engineerging, is now a cardiologist at Prairie Cardiovascular Consultants, Ltd.

Lihong V. Wang, PhD, was the the Gene K. Beare Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering.
He is now the Bren Professor of Medical Engineering and Electrical Engineering at Caltech.

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