The Surprising Heart: A Hetero-Cellular, Multi-Physics, and Inter-Disciplinary Challenge

The 2015 Gordon Research Conference on Cardiac Arrhythmia Mechanisms will provide a forum in which cutting edge concepts and new observations on mechanisms and treatment of complex cardiac rhythm disturbances are discussed, at levels of integration ranging from molecule to the patient. The meeting will focus on key scientific discoveries, relevant to both basic science and the clinic, emphasizing multi-disciplinary approaches to integrating the latest (and, to a large extent, unpublished) advances in structural biology, genomics, proteomics, stem cell research, cellular and tissue electrophysiology, high-resolution electro-mechanical mapping, and computational modeling to study of the hetero-cellular nature of cardiac arrhythmogenesis and anti-arrhythmic therapy.

This represents an exceptional opportunity for bringing together an internationally leading selection of outstanding investigators who are experts in various relevant fields, including biologists, geneticists, electrophysiologists, biophysicists, biomedical engineers, mathematical biologists, computer scientists, and clinical cardiologists to interact in an informal atmosphere and share ideas about the ‘multi-physics’ nature of mechanisms underlying normal and disturbed heart rhythms, including causes of sudden cardiac death.

Even more so than in previous years will we have an explicit focus on peer interactions with, and mentoring of, trainees and junior investigators, who (for the first time in the Cardiac Arrhythmia Mechanisms GRC history) will have 'their own' 2-day Gordon Research Seminar prior to the GRC.

The Specific Aims of the conference are the following:

1. To bring together established and young investigators who study the mechanisms of cardiac arrhythmias from interdisciplinary perspectives.
2. To assess our current understanding of cardiac arrhythmia mechanisms, emphasizing systems approaches which integrate information across multiple scales, from multiple cell types, obtained using a broad range of techniques, to project from gene and molecule to cell, tissue, organ, and organism, including human, using integrated experimental and computational methods.
3. To highlight neglected areas in our understanding of cardiac arrhythmia mechanisms and to identify and prioritize novel research directions.
4. To use the critical mass of attendee excellence to improve existing strategies and develop innovative new approaches to treating and preventing cardiac arrhythmias as a leading cause of death in our society.
5. To bridge the real or perceived divides between levels of investigation, foci of cardiac activity (e.g. electrics and mechanics), employment backgrounds (academia, hospital, industry), geographies, gender, ethnicity or age groups, and thus to consolidate the cardiac arrhythmia research community with the view of enhanced collaboration and, ultimately, success.