Education:

• Columbia University, New York, NY Postdoc 2001-2003
• Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH Ph.D. Department of Physiology and Biophysics. 2001
• Union College, Schenectady, NY B.S. Mathematics and Biology 1994

Research Interests:

The Clancy Lab aims to develop and implement computational approaches to understand mechanisms of excitable disease in the heart and nervous system. Electrically based syndromes such as arrhythmia and pain are integrative disorders that result in disruption of normal electrical behavior. However, understanding the precise cause of these syndromes has been extremely difficult. This may be due, in part, to inadequate approaches to understand system level electrical disorders that focus on one specific part of the system and fail to reveal the most valuable information—how protein and cell anomalies affect complex interactions to disrupt the tissue and cause the disease state. To achieve an integrative understanding of such a complex system we use mathematics and high performance computing to construct quantitative representations of the heart and hippocampus brain region. The general approach used in the laboratory is to design detailed models of ion channel activity that can be used to study perturbations, such as those caused by effects of drugs, mutations or phosphorylation. Ion channel models are then incorporated into virtual excitable cells and connected to form functional models of tissues, which allows us to follow perturbations across multiple scales, from the modified proteins to altered cellular states to the propagation of the perturbation in cell networks. We are also attempting to build predictive models of pharmacological intervention during arrhythmia. Prediction of the origin and pathway of pathological triggers, and strategies for intervention may ultimately lead to improved diagnosis and treatment.

Highlighted Techniques:

Computer models, simulation, theory

Courses/Teaching:

• BIM 290 "Meet the Faculty" seminar
• Cardiovascular Pharmacology

Lab Members:

Steven Behrens (BME) Graduate Student, Pei-Chi Yang, Postdoc, Byron Roberts, Postdoc, Mao-Tseun Jeng, M.S. Assistant Specialist

Lab Rotation Availability: Yes
Funding Sources: Sloan Foundation, American Heart Association, National Institutes of Health, Epilepsy Foundation

PubMed listing