Presentation of Dr. Wouter Derks, CRTD Dresden

The presentation “Optogenetic Control of Human Stem Cell-Derived Car-diac Models” by Dr. Wouter Derks, CRTD Dresden takes place in the context of the Seminar on “Measurement Systems”

Cardiac arrhythmias are a major cause of morbidity and mortality and can be treated with implanted electrical devices for pace-making or defibrillation. Although these are standard treatment and crucial for survival, important downsides exist, such as electrochemically induced tissue-damage or the painful electric shocks during defibrillations. Optogenetic tools allow the electrical activation of excitable cells and is widely used in the neuroscience field. It can control cardiac excitability and compared to conventional pharmacological and electrical therapies, optogenetics has the potential to treat cardiac arrhythmias in a spatiotemporal and cell-specific manner that is pain-free for patients.

 Recently, bidirectional optogenetic tools have been developed, which combine a red light sensitive activatory opsin and a green light sensitive inhibitory opsin, thereby making it possible to combine the classical pace-making with defibrillation. In addition, the inhibitory opsin could be used to block irregular arrhythmogenic electrical signals and restore sinus rhythm similar as cardiac ablation therapies, but without the need to generate a scar.

We aim to characterize the functionality of novel optogenetic tools in cardiac tissue models derived from human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes. To this end we generate stably expressing opsin-hiPSC-lines which we differentiate into cardiomyocytes, thereby creating light-controllable cardiac tissue models. Using complex illumination patterns, we aim to generate irregular arrhythmogenic activity which could be terminated using optogenetic cardioversion.

Time: Tuesday, 08.11.2022, 13:00 – 14:00
Place: BAR I88