BME Seminar Series: Dr. Seth Weinberg, Virginia Commonwealth University

Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Virginia Commonwealth University

Abstract: 

"Multiscale computational physiology: studies of cardiac electrophysiology and mechanobiology dynamics and dysfunction"

In this talk, I will discuss recent efforts in my lab using computational modeling to investigate mechanisms underlying normal and pathological processes in cardiac electrophysiology, multi-cellular signaling, and mechanobiology. I will introduce several different modeling approaches, ranging across the molecular, subcellular, cellular, and tissue scale, to study the dynamics of physiological phenomena including subcellular calcium signaling, sodium signaling at the intercalated disk, irregular cardiac repolarization, extracellular matrix assembly, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition.  Across this wide range of areas, I will highlight recent novel predictions from our modeling work and validation from experimental collaborators.  Finally, in addition to specific mechanisms, I will highlight physiological features and insights that are general across these biological systems.

 

Bio:

Dr. Seth Weinberg is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University. He received a B.S.E. in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University in 2006 and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University in 2012.  From 2012 to 2014, Dr. Weinberg was the Biomathematics Initiative post-doctoral fellow at the College of William & Mary, and from 2014-2016, he was a Research Assistant Professor at the Virginia Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation Center (VMASC) at Old Dominion University.  His research is on the development of multiscale modeling of physiological systems, with a focus on cardiac electrophysiology and mechanobiology. Dr. Weinberg is an author on over 30 peer-reviewed articles, review papers, and book chapters.  He is a PI on three R01 awards from the National Institutes of Health to investigate and model dysfunctional cardiac sodium signaling, extracellular matrix assembly, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition.