“From Pacing the Heart to the Pace of Evolution”

Denis Noble, C.B.E., Ph.D., F.R.S. is a British biologist who held the Burdon Sanderson Chair of Cardiovascular Physiology at the University of Oxford from 1984 to 2004 and was appointed Professor Emeritus and co-Director of Computational Physiology. He is one of the pioneers of systems biology and developed the first viable mathematical model of the working heart in 1962.

Professor Noble’s presentation entitled, “From Pacing the Heart to the Pace of Evolution,” will ask a deeper, developmental question: why did Nature develop such extensive complexity? One answer is robustness of function. Multi-mechanism interpretations of cardiac pacemaker function reveal the extent to which many physiological functions are buffered against genomic change. The first stage of the lecture will show how an evolutionary perspective informs electrophysiology and how it led to the development of a useful medication.

This seminar is hosted by the Cardiac Bioelectricity and Arrhythmia Center (CBAC).

Coffee & Dessert will be served.

For inquiries contact nguyeng@wustl.edu.