On May 25, 2010, the University of British Columbia Life Sciences Institute (LSI) hosted the third LSI Café Scientifique. Over 40 students, faculty, and interested community members gathered for an informal and participatory dialogue with UBC experts on the topic of “Electrical Signaling in the Heart and Body: Understanding Cardiac Disease”.

The Café featured members of the Cardiovascular Research Group who are studying how the heart operates and how heart contraction is controlled. The interactive session was presented by Dr. Christopher Ahern, Assistant Professor in the Dept of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics and the Dept of Cellular and Physiological Sciences. An additional presentation was given by Dr. Sebastian Brauchi who has been awarded the 2010-2011 LSI Visiting Scientist Award to work in the laboratory of Dr. Ahern in the Cardiovascular Research Group. Dr. Brauchi comes from Universidad Austrade de Chile and performed his post-doctoral studies at Harvard in the laboratory of Dr. David Clapham, a world leader in the field of ion channels. As the population ages, cardiac arrhythmias are on the rise, with a predicted doubling in the next 50 years. Drs. Ahern and Brauchi showed images of their research, discussed their findings and answered questions about the mechanisms governing electrical signaling in the body and how research at the LSI is helping understand and treat this growing health problem. An artist’s rendition of the “Ryanodine Receptor”, the largest ion channel currently known, was supplied by Dr. Filip Van Petegem, another researcher in the Cardiovascular group and this image was given away as a door prize to one member of the audience. Dr. Van Petegem also provided an overview of his ion channel research in a poster presentation.

The LSI Café Scientifique is co-sponsored by the Life Sciences Institute, CIHR, MSFHR, Faculty of Medicine Research Office and Café Perugia (UBC Food Services). Upcoming Café topics include one on the biology of cancer.