Anna Pfenniger
Northwestern University, IL·Medicine & Clinical Research·Early-career
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common lasting heart rhythm disorder. It is a leading cause of stroke and is becoming more common as populations age.
- Fields
Medicine & Clinical Research
Physiology
- Topics
atrial fibrillation
arrhythmia
heart rhythm disorders
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Aug 2028
What they work on
- Map when and where endothelial dysfunction appears during atrial fibrillation, especially the shift from paroxysmal to persistent AF, in two large animal models of AF.
- Determine how endothelin-1, a signaling molecule from the blood vessel lining, drives autonomic, electrical and structural remodeling of the upper heart chambers that sustains atrial fibrillation.
- Use gene therapy tools in large animal models to test whether endothelin-1 signaling causes the heart changes that lead to atrial fibrillation.
More about the research
Current drugs and catheter ablation, a procedure that scars heart tissue to block faulty signals, work in fewer than half of patients, especially when AF has become persistent. Most AF risk factors, including heart failure, high blood pressure and diabetes, share endothelial dysfunction. This is a breakdown in the endothelium, the inner lining of blood vessels. Endothelial dysfunction is linked to AF, but whether it actually causes AF is unknown.
Why it matters
Atrial fibrillation is a leading cause of stroke, and its burden is rising as populations age. Current treatments often fail, particularly in persistent AF. Showing whether endothelin-1 signaling drives AF could lead to therapies that target the underlying mechanism. These could help patients whose arrhythmia is linked to heart failure, high blood pressure or diabetes.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Jeffrey Goldberger
University of Miami, FL·Medicine & Clinical Research
Compare 4D flow MRI measures of left atrial appendage blood stasis and other atrial cardiopathy markers across patients with embolic stroke of undetermined source, AF-related stroke, AF alone, and neither.
Thomas Everett
Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis, IN·Medicine & Clinical Research
Test whether skin sympathetic nerve activity (SKNA), nerve signals recorded noninvasively from the skin, predicts brain recovery in cardiac arrest patients receiving targeted temperature management, a protective cooling therapy.
Peter Hanna
University of California-Los Angeles, CA·Medicine & Clinical Research·Early-career
Identify which ganglionated plexus neurons supply the pulmonary veins and back wall of the left atrium by injecting a retrograde neural tracer into donated human hearts and imaging them with confocal microscopy.
The school
Northwestern University: 71 labs on PI Pages, $1.3B a year on research, 536 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.