Greetings PhD Students –

 

This is our first seminar as part of our Fall 2015 Bioengineering Seminar Series. It also serves as a reminder that you need to attend 3 seminars per semester as part of your curriculum.

 

Bioengineering Seminar

September 16^th, 2015 from 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM

ENGR 3507

 

Speaker: Igor Efimov, PhD – Professor of the Dept. of Bioengineering at George Washington University

Seminar title: Future of implantable devices: from implantable pacemakers to conformal electronics 

 

Biography

Dr. Efimov earned his M.Sc. and PhD from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, and completed his postdoctoral training at the University of Pittsburgh. He served on the faculty of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH, and Washington University in St. Louis, MO, prior to recently joining the George Washington University. There, Dr. Efimov is Chairman of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, the Alisann & Terry Collins Professor, and the Director of the Cardiac Imaging Laboratory, an NIH-funded cardiovascular research and engineering laboratory. He has developed novel anti-arrhythmia therapies, including low-energy defibrillation therapy. In 2008, Dr. Efimov co-founded Cardialen to develop low energy electrotherapy, with a primary focus on atrial fibrillation. Dr. Efimov is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering, Heart Rhythm Society, and American Heart Association. He is currently an Associate Editor of the American Journal of Physiology: Heart and Circulatory Physiology. He has served on editorial boards of Circulation Research, Heart Rhythm Journal, Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology, IEEE Transactions in Biomedical Engineering Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology, and other premier cardiovascular and biomedical engineering professional journals.

Abstract

Life saving medical devices significantly extended life expectancy by providing cardiac rhythm support. However, implantable pacemakers and defibrillators are limited by low definition sensing and therapy delivery channels. High definition cardiac mapping has been an important experimental and clinical tool for understanding normal conduction and arrhythmia mechanisms. Electrode heart “socks” are effective tools that increase the spatial resolution of recording propagation patterns, but it is difficult to achieve quality contact across the whole epicardial surface with these devices. But such approaches were limited to acute studies. Taking advantage of recent advances in materials science fabrication technology and innovative circuit design, a novel platform has emerged for the development of devices that can monitor multiple parameters simultaneously with high spatial resolution and follow the curvilinear surface of the beating heart. Such devices are built on stretchable contour-fitting membranes custom designed to the geometry of the heart. A diverse array of multiparametric sensors can be placed in custom orientations across the membrane, spanning the entire epicardial surface. With future development, these membranes can be implemented as continuous monitors of cardiac performance, providing clinicians with a set of internal high definition multiparametric monitors and therapeutic devices that could significantly improve cardiac function and life expectancy.

Thank you very much,

Claudia

 

 

Claudia Borke

Academic Program Coordinator

Volgenau School of Engineering, Department of Bioengineering

3800 Nguyen Engineering Building, 1G5

4400 University Drive

Fairfax, VA 22030

Phone: (703) 993-4190

Fax: (703) 993-2077