Multiscale Computational Modeling of the Heart
June 10, 2005
Researchers in the Cardiac Mechanics Research Group at the University of California, San Diego, use multiscale computational models to help interpret their experimental studies of the electromechanical properties of the normal and diseased heart, from molecular to whole-organ scales. In the models, systems of nonlinear ordinary differential and algebraic equations (DAEs) describe the kinetics of biochemical signaling networks, the ion fluxes through voltage-gated channels, and the dynamic interactions of the contractile proteins responsible for cardiac muscle contraction. Because these processes are spatially distributed, compartmentalized, and heterogeneous, the DAE system models must be spatially coupled and solved with numerical methods for the resulting PDEs.
