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 | Medical News Releases > Faculty Experts at Washington University in St. Louis >
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Expertise: biomechanics of cardiovascular development, heart, embryo, blood vessels
Bio: Taber has been probing the forces, stresses and deformations of the heart since the mid-1980s. A major focus of his work is to show that biomechanical forces may be as important as genetics in shaping the heart. Recently, Taber has developed a theory on tissue growth and morphogenesis--shape change--and applied it to understanding a chicken embryo's developing heart, which is remarkably similar to its countpart in humans. Taber is studying a phenomenon known as looping, one of the most critical stages of embryo heart development, where the heart at just 2 days of age in chickens (3 weeks in humans) bends outward and rotates to the right. This is an almost ballet-like move that must happen perfectly to avoid misconnections of arteries in the heart walls and holes in the heart, among other serious developmental problems. Taber's theory factors cellular contraction into looping, and he has found that the split-second looping process of bending and rotation is actually driven by at least two different mechanical forces. His research could help scientists better understand the roles physics and mechanics play in the developing heart and in heart defects. Because geneticists currecntly do most of the research in this field, Taber and other biomedical engineers studying heart development provide clues into the cause and effect of the gene's master plan, as well as a different perspective.
WUSTL Contact Information:
Education:
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Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University
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M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University
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B.A. in Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology
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Understanding irregular heartbeats
New heart cell model incorporates calcium pathway
Feb. 2,
2005 --
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| David Kilper/WUSTL Photo |
| Professor Yoram Rudy (center), with Ph.D. student Yong Wang (left) and post-doctroal fellow Leonid Livshitz (right), with their ECGI system on a mannequin, comment on the cardiac data. |
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Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have developed the first mathematical model of a canine cardiac cell that incorporates a vital calcium regulatory pathway with implications for life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, or irregular heartbeats. Thomas J. Hund, Ph.D., post-doctoral researcher in Pathology ( in Dr. Jeffrey Saffitz laboratory) at the Washington University School of Medicine, and Yoram Rudy, The Fred Saigh Distinguished Professor of Engineering at Washington University, have incorporated the Calcium/Calmodulin-dependent Protein Kinase II (CaMKII) regulatory pathway into their model, improving the understanding of the relationship between calcium handling in cardiac cells and the cell's electrical activity.
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Additional Background: My current research interests center on the biomechanics of cardiovascular development. Formation of the heart and blood vessels in the embryo involves a dynamic interaction of genetic and environmental factors. We are studying the role that mechanical forces play in this process.
The heart is the first functioning organ in the embryo. In human embryos, the heart begins to beat about 2.5 weeks post-conception. During development, the heart undergoes a remarkable transformation from a single muscle-wrapped tube without valves into a complex four-chambered pump, while simultaneously providing continuous circulatory support to the rapidly growing embryo. Since form and function are intimately interrelated, these changes must be carefully coordinated.
To gain an understanding of the effects of mechanics on normal and abnormal heart development, we combine theoretical modeling with experiments on early chick embryos. (Development of the chick heart is similar to that of the human heart, with contractions beginning early in the second day of incubation.) Present experimental projects include measuring blood pressure and flow rate, epicardial strains, changes in residual strains due to growth, material properties, and changes in deformation during cardiac looping. On the theoretical side, we are developing models for the heart and arteries that include large deformation, muscle activation, growth, active cell shape changes, and blood flow. Our long-term goal is to determine the biomechanical factors that regulate cardiac growth, remodeling, and morphogenesis.
Affiliated with Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children's Hospital, members of BJC HealthCare.
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