Assistant Professor
Department of Surgery
Emory University

Monday, January 28, 2019
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Georgia Tech Whitaker Bldg., McIntire Room 3115

Videoconference
Emory: HSRB E160 / Georgia Tech: TEP, stream from your PC (no conf room)
https://bluejeans.com/809850842

“Biomechanics in the Pathogenesis and Treatment of Valvular Heart Disease and Heart Failure: Mechanistic Insights to Therapeutic Devices”

ABSTRACT

The cardiovascular system is constantly under the effect of physical forces, mostly in a physiological range but sometimes in the pathological realm. Sustained pathological level forces impose functional and structural changes in cardiovascular tissues, leading to permanent and irreversible damage. Quantitative biomechanical studies of the cardiovascular system in health and in disease can provide mechanistic insights into onset and progression of different diseases, and enable the development of targeted therapeutic strategies. Building upon this approach, in this seminar I will present my laboratories research in three areas: (a) biomechanics of mitral valve and left ventricular interactions, which has built the fundamental framework in delineating the pathogenesis of functional mitral regurgitation – a common heart valve lesion that accelerates congestive heart failure. I will discuss the biomechanical basis for this valve lesion, and present a novel surgical repair strategy and a new implantable device that we have developed for this lesion and have advanced through preclinical swine studies to a clinical trial; (b) biomechanical changes in progressive heart failure and transventricular cardiac reshaping as a therapy. In this area, our work has focused on understanding the structural and biomechanical changes that occur in the cardiomyocyte and extracellular matrix components of the remodeling heart as it progressively fails. Building upon these findings, we propose a novel transventricular reshaping device to destress and reshape the ventricular structure at the organ and fiber levels to halt progressive dysfunction; and (c) the development of a novel material for in situ tissue engineering of a viable substitute for pediatric cardiac surgery patients, that can accommodate patient growth.

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Padala is an assistant professor of cardiothoracic surgery in the Joseph P. Whitehead Department of Surgery at Emory University. He established and directs the structural heart research and innovation laboratory, where his team focuses on basic, translational and clinical cardiovascular biomechanics in valvular heart disease, heart failure and pediatric cardiac bioengineering. He obtained his BS in Mechanical Engineering in 2004 from Osmania University in India, and a PhD in Bioengineering in 2010 from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He joined the Emory faculty in 2010, and in 2012 spent a year at the Harefield Heart Science Center at Imperial College London as a Fondation Leducq Career Development awardee. His lab at Emory is a transdisciplinary mix of surgeons, engineers, molecular biologists and physiologists, and is supported by the National Institutes of Health, American Heart Association, Coulter Foundation, Georgia Research Alliance, the Carlyle Fraser Heart Center and medical device industry. He is the founder and board chairman of Nyra Medical, an early stage corporation advancing an image-guided heart valve intervention developed in his lab to clinical use.

Host: Kevin Maher