Dr James Fraser

Our recent work has focused on the consequences of abnormal Ca2+ homeostasis for cardiac function. We have shown that increased diastolic Ca2+ produces a significant decrease in action potential conduction velocity in both atria (1) and ventricles (2), and that there is a significant correlation between slowed conduction and arrhythmogenicity. These findings directly suggest novel strategies for research, diagnosis and treatment of catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT) (see e.g. here), as described in two recent editorials on our papers (here and here).

Our work with skeletal muscle forms two broad streams. The first aims to feed findings into my group's cardiac research, while the second is aimed at understanding skeletal muscle electrophysiology with direct relevance to human diseases. The recent focus of the first stream has been on understanding the determinants of conduction velocity in muscle. We have been able to show precisely how conduction velocity is determined and how it is influenced by changes in structure and electrophysiology in health and disease (e.g. here and here). This has informed our work exploring the mechanisms that link abnormal cardiac Ca2+ homeostasis with slowed conduction. Our work in the second stream has recently provided insight into the phenotypic variation in myotonia congenita.

Prof Chris Huang, Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge

Dr Folma Buss, Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, University of Cambridge

Dr Andrew Grace, Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge

Assoc Prof Thomas Pedersen, Institute of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Aarhus, Denmark

Prof Aiqun Ma, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Xi'an Jiaotong University, China

Prof Ron Horgan, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge

Dr Ming Lee, Institute of Cardiovascular Science, University of Manchester

Dr Yanmin Zhang, Xi'an Jiaotong University, China