Over a typical human lifespan, the heart beats over 2 billion times. Every normal heartbeat originates as an electrical signal generated in the sinoatrial node (SAN), the heart’s natural pacemaker, and is then transmitted to the rest of the heart. Our scientific goals are to understand the molecular, cellular, and developmental basis for the initiation of the heartbeat in specialized cardiac pacemaker cells within the SAN, and to understand how the SAN functions to regulate cardiac output dynamically in the context of the normal, aged, and diseased heart. Our ultimate aim is to leverage our scientific discoveries to restore normal heart rhythm to patients suffering from slow heartbeat, irregular heartbeat (atrial fibrillation), and cardiac arrest. 

Our interdisciplinary team uses several complementary approaches to advance our mission, including whole animal, ex-vivo, and cellular electrophysiology in mouse models, developmental biology and genomics in genetically modified mice and zebrafish, studies in human induced pluripotent (iPS) stem cell-derived heart cells, and human genetics and bioinformatics.