Novel optogenetic approach to investigate arrhythmogenesis in dominant catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT)

Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT) is an inherited disease causing arrhythmias and sudden death in children and young adults. Despite recent progress in the understanding of the disease, there is need to identify new therapeutic approaches, as current pharmacological therapies are only partially protective against sudden death. As a first step in this direction, we aim to generate a new experimental method to understand how the genetic defects are responsible for generation of the life threatening arrhythmic events. The method will allow us to experimentally reproduce non invasively the effect of the defects that are believed to cause the disease. This method will serve to answer fundamental questions on the CPVT mechanism, and direct the search of new and potentially more effective therapeutic approaches.