Welcome To The Molecular Cardiac Physiology Group

The Molecular Cardiac Physiology Group is made up of three faculty from Biomedical Physiology
and Kinesiology (Drs. Tom Claydon, Peter Ruben, Glen Tibbits) and two from the Department of
Molecular Biology and Biochemistry (Drs. Mark Paetzel, Edgar Young).

The group studies the molecular and cellular mechanisms of cardiac excitation and excitationcontraction coupling. The MCPG are housed in a newly built joint lab in the Technology and
Science Complex (TASCII) building at the SFU Burnaby campus.
[See photos]

Our work focuses on congenital heart diseases such as dysfunction of cardiac ion channels
(channelopathies) and contractile proteins (cardiomyopathies) both of which can result in
arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death.

This strong research focus has close ties with systems level physiology research
(Dr. Victoria Claydon) in areas such as autonomic cardiovascular control, the effects and
mechanisms of autonomic dysfunction (e.g. spinal cord injury and chronic exposure to hypoxia),
cardiac arrhythmia, and syncope.

We therefore approach cardiovascular function and dysfunction from an integrative perspective
encompassing molecular to systems physiology. This provides an integrative “bench-to-bedside”
approach to the study of cardiovascular physiology and pathophysiology.