MEC 2022
Cardiac Mechano-Electric Coupling and Arrhythmias21-24th September
It has been a great pleasure to welcome you to the 9th International Workshop on Cardiac Mechano-Electric Coupling and Arrhythmias (MEC2022), held from 21-24 September 2022 in Freiburg.
The workshop again attracted over 90 participants and trainees from 13 countries and 4 continents.
In 29 lectures and 6 abstract-selected talks we learned more about new developments, with a focus on the rapidly improving understanding of molecular mechanisms, and their integration at cell, tissue and organ levels, and the latest clinical observations, as well as major technical developments, including time-resolved 3D electron microscopy, super-resolution structure-function mapping in contracting cardiac muscle, and novel high throughput single cell mechanics measurements.
Around 8.5h of discussion time and a dedicated poster session with 52 posters provided ample time for scientific interaction. After a comprehensive review, a poster jury selected 7 trainees for their poster presentations:
Proxime Accessit Awards:
Ana Simon Chica - Stretch-Activated Channels in Cardiac Macrophages –What we Know and What we Don't Know yet
Fazeelat Mazhar - Modelling of Electromechanical Coupling and Mechano-Electric Feedback Effect in Human Atrial Cells
Austin Wellette-Hunsucker - Prior Freezing has Minimal Impact on the Contractile Properties of PermeabilizedHuman Myocardium
First Prize Awards:
Teresa Schiatti - Atrial Tissue Slices: a Biomimetic Model to Investigate Time-Dependent Processes
Ross Bretherton - A p38-MAPK FibroproliferativeResponse is a Central Determinant of Cardiac Remodellingin Inherited Dilated Cardiomyopathy
Joachim Greiner - Reconstruction of Contracting Cardiomyocytes With Nanometer Resolution
Ahmed Ramadan - OptogeneticSuppression of Drug-Induced Early Afterdepolarisationsin the Zebrafish Heart
Congratulations again to the award winners and many thanks to the judges.
We very much look forward to the next edition of MEC in 2025 and hope to welcome you back then.
With my best wishes,
Peter Kohl
Programme
Wednesday, 21 September 2022
| 16:00 – 17:00 | Registration | |
| Keynote Lectures and Festive Opening Chair: Ursula Ravens | ||
| 17:00 – 17:15 | Welcome addresses by: Peter Kohl | |
| 17:15 – 18:00 | Leslie Leinwand | Myosin modulation as a treatment for a deadly disease |
| 18:00 – 18:45 | Michael Sheetz | Appreciating force and shape: the rise of mechanotransduction in cell biology |
| 18:45 – 19:00 | Wrap-up | |
| 19:00 – 21:00 | Reception Prometheus Hall | |
Thursday, 22 September 2022
| 09:00 | Registration | |
| 09:15 – 09:30 | Rémi Peyronnet | MEC2022 |
Session 1: Ion Channels From Endomembranes to Sarco- / Plasma-lemma | ||
| 09:30 – 10:00 | Kristi Anseth | Nuclear mechanosensing drives chromatin remodelling in persistently activated fibroblasts |
| 10:00 – 10:30 | Bailong Xiao | The mechanosensitive Piezo1 channel mediates heart mechano-chemo transduction |
| 10:30 – 11:00 | Alexander Quinn | Microtubules and TRPA1 in stretch-induced arrhythmias |
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Tea (posters on display) | |
| 11:30 – 12:00 | Timothy Domeier | TRPV4 and stretch-induced dysfunction in the aged heart |
| 12:00 – 12:30 | Bo Hjorth Bentzen | SK channels and stretch-induced vulnerability to AF |
| 12:30 – 13:00 | Aurore Lyon | Stretch-activated channels and calcium-contraction coupling: insights from computer modelling |
| 13:00 – 14:30 | Lunch (posters on display) | |
Session 2: Scaffolding MEC: Cytoskeleton and Nanodomains | ||
| 14:30 – 15:00 | Eva Rog-Zielinska | Time-resolved 3D EM to investigate mechanics of T-tub content mixing |
| 15:00 – 15:30 | Long-Sheng Song | Junctophilin-2 couples cardiac mechanical information with transcriptional reprogramming |
| 15:30 – 16:00 | Alexey Glukhov | Caveolae-mediated activation of mechanosensitive chloride channels in pulmonary veins triggers atrial arrhythmogenesis |
| 16:00 – 16:30 | Tea (posters on display) | |
| Session 3: MEC-induced Arrhythmias Chair: Lutz Hein | ||
| 16:30 – 17:00 | Peter Kohl | Commotio cordis: a fresh look |
| 17:00 – 17:15 | Bo Han (Poster 06) | Sustainability of cardiac pacing by mechanical stimulation in the Langendorff-perfused rabbit heart |
| 17:15 – 17:30 | Melania Buonocunto (Poster 52) | Understanding the contribution of stretch-activated ion channels to cardiac arrhythmogenesis using computational modelling |
| 17:30 – 18:00 | Sian Harding | 55 years of 'Mechano-Electrical Feedback' - Laudatio on a pioneer in this field: Ursula Ravens |
| Poster Session | ||
| 18:00 – 20:00 | Posters with refreshments, and nibbles, and more… | |
Friday, 23 September 2022
| Session 4: ECM and Mechano-Regulation Chair: Kate Herum | ||
| 09:00 – 09:30 | Boris Hinz | Mechanical regulation of myofibroblast phenoconversion and collagen contraction |
| 09:30 – 10:00 | Michele Orini | Direct in-vivo assessment of global and regional mechano-electric feedback in the intact human heart |
| 10:00 – 10:30 | Pinar Zorlutuna | Mechanotransduction at the cardiomyocyte-fibroblast interface |
| 10:30 – 11:00 | Coffee (posters on display) | |
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Rémi Peyronnet | Piezo and matrix stiffness sensing |
| 11:30 – 12:00 | Neil Turner | Channeling the force to reprogram the matrix |
| 12:00 – 13:30 | Lunch (posters on display) | |
| Session 5: Tissue MEC: From the Roots to Computational Modelling Chair: Viviane Timmermann | ||
| 13:30 – 14:00 | Adam Feinberg | Mechanics of engineered heart tissue |
| 14:00 – 14:30 | Elisabetta Cerbai | At the roots of atrial myopathy and arrhythmias: interplay between atrial dilation and genetic factors |
| 14:30 – 15:00 | Sandeep Pandit | Mechanisms by which ranolazine terminates paroxysmal but not persistent atrial fibrillation |
| 15:00 – 15:30 | Tea (posters on display) | |
| 15:30 – 16:00 | David Filgueiras-Rama | Atrial remodelling characterization during atrial fibrillation progression |
| 16:00 – 16:15 | Eilidh MacDonald (Poster 14) | Targeting Runx1 protects cardiac structure and function |
| 16:15 – 16:30 | Jessi Bak (Poster 22) | Microtubules and TRPA1 drive mechanically-induced arrhythmias in the rabbit heart |
| 16:30 – 16:45 | Leander Stewart (Poster 13) | Genetic deletion of myofibroblast-specific Piezo1 Protects against hypertension-induced cardiac hypertrophy |
| 16:45 – 17:00 | Charles Cox (Poster 12) | Piezo1 is the cardiac mechanosensor that initiates the cardio-myocyte hypertrophic response to pressure overload in mice |
| 17:15 | Meeting Photo | |
Saturday, 24 September 2022
| Session 6: Tissue MEC Reloaded: New Approaches Chair: Eilidh MacDonald | ||
| 09:00 – 09:30 | Vadim Fedorov | Distinct fibrotic signatures of human sinoatrial node in non-failing and failing hearts |
| 09:30 – 10:00 | Aurelien Forget | Tailorable hydrogels for applied mechanobiology |
| 10:00 – 10:30 | Jennifer Davis | Mechanisms of cardiac stiffness regulations |
| 10:30 – 11:00 | Coffee (posters on display) | |
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Daniel Beard | Multi-scale systems analysis of metabolic and mechanical determinants of reserve cardiac power output |
| 11:30 – 12:00 | Natalia Trayanova | Artificial intelligence in arrhythmia and electrophysiology |
| 12:00 – 13:00 | Lunch (posters on display) | |
| Session 6: Cool tools Chair: Leonardo Sacconi | ||
| 13:00 – 13:30 | Boris Martinac | High-throughput measurements of the viscoelastic properties of cells |
| 13:30 – 14:00 | Andrew McCulloch | New tools for cell electrophysiology and clinical arrhythmia mapping |
| 14:00 – 14:30 | Juliane Münch | Sensing and responding of cardiomyocytes to changes of tissue stiffness |
| 14:30 – 15:00 | Tea (posters on display) | |
| Closing Session Chair: Peter Kohl | ||
| 15:00 – 15:15 | Michael Sheetz | What we’ve learned and what we should focus on next in terms of MEC mechanisms |
| 15:15 – 15:30 | Natalia Trayanova | What we’ve learned and what we should focus on next in terms of MEC clinical relevance |
| 15:30 – 16:00 | Discussion, Participant Feedback | |
| 17:30 – 00:00 | Meeting Dinner and Dance | |
