Heart-on-a-Chip Model for Cardiomyopathies

Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in the US. According to US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 800,000 American deaths is attributed to cardiovascular disease and each year about hundreds of thousands of people die well before the current life expectancy of 78 years in the US. By 2030, approximately 20% of the population will be aged 65 or older and cardiovascular diseases will be the leading cause of death. Over the past 4 decades, there have been remarkable advances in our understanding and treatment of ischemic heart disease, while our understanding of cardiomyopathies and arrhythmic disorders has lagged behind. Indeed, the realization that many cardiomyopathies and sudden cardiac deaths are in fact related to genetic disorders has heralded a remarkable era for hereditary cardiac disorders. With advances in genetic sequencing methods, more genetic targets are being identified as pathogenic variants of these disorders. Unfortunately, understanding the biology of how these putative genetic variants result in observed phenotypic changes has proven challenging. The patient harbors the mutations from birth but the onset of the development of rhythm disturbances presents much later in life thus indicates the requirement of higher order cardiac model that will encompass patient bio-omics