Lee L. Eckhardt, MD

Pubmed

More Information:

• Lab Website
• Faculty Website

Research Description:

Dr. Eckhardt’s research interests are related to the study of the cellular mechanisms and electrophysiology of arrhythmia syndromes that cause sudden death. The goals in her lab are synergistic to her clinical practice and aim to advance the investigative platform to better understand diverse arrhythmia syndrome phenotypes and genotype relationships.

Dr. Eckhardt is a skilled basic laboratory scientist, examining the mechanisms by which mutations in ion channel genes lead to inherited arrhythmias by causing dysfunction at the molecular and cellular level. Her lab utilizes a variety of model systems for arrhythmia investigation including complex transgenic murine models, heart failure murine and swine models, and human induced-pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocytes (iPS-CMs). She has a long-standing interest is sudden arrhythmic death prevention and developing a deeper understanding of inherited sudden death syndromes, such as Long QT Syndrome, Catecholaminergic Polymorphic Ventricular Tachycardia (CPVT), and undefined arrhythmia syndromes like Idiopathic VF.

The Eckhardt lab is particularly interested in utilizing iPS-based cellular platforms to model human arrhythmia. A significant emphasis of her research is to use iPS-derived cardiomyocytes (iPS-CMs) and are dedicated to uncover arrhythmia mechanism(s) with the purpose of creating a more accurate method to treat patient with Inherited Arrhythmic conditions. Moreover, her lab has used CRISPR gene editing (UW Gene Editing Core) in iPS cells to create or correct patient-specific lines. Understanding the physiologic impact of gene editing is of great interest and relates to my lab’s goal of helping to create a physiologic iPS-CM and the overarching goal to better understand arrhythmia mechanisms toward a goal of prevention of sudden cardiac death.

Selected References:

• Vaidyanathan R, Markandeya YS, Kamp TJ, Makielski JC, January CT, Eckhardt LL. IK1-enhanced human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes: an improved cardiomyocyte model to investigate inherited arrhythmia syndromes. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2016 Jun 1;310(11):H1611-21. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.00481.2015. Epub 2016 Apr 8. PMID: 27059077