Tibbits Lab

Our research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of inherited cardiomyopathies and arrythmias.  The SFU-based lab in TASC II focuses on the use of zebrafish and human recombinant protein structures that make up the thin filament of the cardiac contractile apparatus.

Our lab at BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute (BCCHRI) is part of the Cellular and Regenerative Centre (CRMC) and focuses entirely on the use of human induced pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) to address these inherited diseases.  The attached figure shows the hiPSC-CM pipeline at BCCHRI in which we can start from patient derived Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMC) extracted from a small blood sample or well curated hiPSC lines in the lab.  After genome editing and Q/C, the hiPSCs are differentiated into beating cardiomyocytes and then matured in vitro.  We can make 2D monolayers of the hiPSC-CMs or use 3D bioprinting technology to make engineered heart tissue.  These cells/tissues are then phenotyped in detail using transcriptomic (ddPCR, Nanostring, or RNAseq using Nanopore technology),  proteomic (MS), imaging (EM, Cell Painting), and functional (optical mapping, patch clamping) techniques.

Email: 

Glen Tibbits
tibbits@sfu.ca

Lab Room:

TASC2 8410

Lab Phone:

(778) 862-4974