Caroline Müllenbroich, University of Glasgow, Scotland
I am a lecturer at the University of Glasgow, where my team and I work on the development of light-sheet and multiphoton microscopy technology to help elucidate the structural and functional properties of the heart.

Leonardo Sacconi, INO, CNR, Italy
Leonardo Sacconi received his Master's degree in Physics in 2001 at the University of Florence and then moved to Trento, where he obtained his PhD in Physics in 2004. He spent one year as a visiting scientist in the Watt Webb laboratory at Cornell University. There he developed an imaging method to optically record neuronal action potentials using non-linear microscopy. He is now a Senior Researcher at the National Institute of Optics in Florence where he is developing innovative imaging methodologies to increase the understanding of cardiac physiology. In 2020 Leonardo joined the IEKM in Freiburg as a visiting scientist.

Gil Bub, McGill University, Canada
My research interest is the dynamics of networks of interconnected excitable cells, in particular information flow between cell and tissue levels of organization. I develop imaging and simulation methods to understand cardiac excitable systems over a range of space and time scales. I have collaborated on several imaging projects including fast remote focusing microscopy, temporal pixel multiplexing high speed imaging technologies, random access parallel microscopy, parallel light sheet microscopy, and applications of optogenetics to cardiac systems.

Godfrey Smith, University of Glasgow
Godfrey Smith is Professor of Cardiovascular Physiology and currently a Director of Innovation Enterprise and Exchange at the School of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Health at Glasgow University. He has served on several national and international committees, including the Physiological Society and the European Society of Cardiology. Godfrey holds honorary appointments at Imperial College London and Trondheim University Norway. His research addresses the cardiac excitation contraction process in health and disease including mechanisms of contraction failure; small molecule modulators of Ca signalling; and arrhythmic mechanisms. His research uses a series of biophysical techniques including multiphoton microscopy. Smith is a cofounder and acting CSO of Clyde Biosciences Ltd; the company provides a service and instrumentation for medium through-put functional cardiotoxology assays using novel optical techniques.

Caroline Müllenbroich, Physics & Astronomy
I am a lecturer at the University of Glasgow, where my team and I work on the development of light-sheet and multiphoton microscopy technology to help elucidate the structural and functional properties of the heart.

Giedrė Astrauskaitė, Physics & Astronomy
Hi, I’m Giedrė Astrauskaitė. I have a MSci in Physics and a keen interest in applying optical technology for biomedical imaging. My PhD project focuses on implementing a remote focusing module for a 2-photon microscope to investigate the action potential propagation within the ventricular wall of a Langendorff-perfused mouse heart. When I am not in the lab, I am probably up on a hill, on a run or in a cat café.

Erin Boland, Cardiovascular & Medical Sciences
I have been a part of the University of Glasgow for almost 9 years and have just completed my PhD in cardiovascular matrix biology focussing on collagen type IV mutations. I have also recently started a new position as a research assistant working with Professor Godfrey Smith investigating the effect of adrenergic signalling on cardiac conduction velocity. I’m very passionate about multi-disciplinary approaches to research and I have been very fortunate to have gained experience in a variety of topics ranging from molecular biology to now electrophysiology in my time at Glasgow. My long-term research interest is studying adverse remodelling in heart failure and how this impacts the molecular, morphological, and electrophysiological aspects of the heart in hopes of finding novel anti-fibrotic therapeutic approaches.

Eline Huethorst, Cardiovascular & Medical Sciences
Eline Huethorst started her academic career in the Netherlands with an undergraduate in Life Sciences from the University of Groningen and postgraduate in Regenerative Medicine from the University of Utrecht. Afterwards, she was awarded a 4-year PHD studentship by the British Heart Foundation to study the acute integration of small, engineered heart tissues (mm-scale) into the myocardium in the lab of Prof. Godfrey Smith at the University of Glasgow. She is now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Glasgow and part of the BHF Centre for Regenerative Medicine consortium of universities within the UK, where the main goal is to investigate and eventually improve the electromechanical coupling of large, engineered heart tissues (cm-scale) with the host myocardium after implantation in vivo. She uses fluorescent dyes and PMTs or cameras with a high sampling rate to assess the electromechanical coupling after several weeks post-implantation. She further has experience with high-throughput imaging of physiological parameters of human induced pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocytes, such as voltage, calcium and contractility.

Ryo Kinegawa, Physics & Astronomy
Currently, I am working as a Research Associate in Caroline group at the University of Glasgow and developing multi-photon imaging systems for heart visualization. My personal research goal is to develop imaging systems to observe and elucidate unknown biological and medical phenomena, and I believe that working on the current projects is a big step toward that goal!

Eilidh MacDonald, Cardiovascular & Medical Sciences
I am a postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Glasgow using an integrative approach to interrogate mechanisms of adverse cardiac remodelling and identify therapeutic targets. I did my PhD at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, studying mechanosensitivity of sinoatrial node function.

Sharika Mohanan, Physics & Astronomy
I am a physicist interested in engineering and building novel optical imaging systems for biomedical applications. I am especially interested in solutions to improving imaging speed and fidelity without disturbing the sample. Having completed my PhD from University of Exeter, I recently moved up north to join Caroline's group as a research assistant. My current project is focused on structural imaging of diseased mice heart. For this, I am building a mesoscale light sheet microscope called the mesoSPIM. This work will be complemented with functional imaging studies performed using a two-photon remote focusing microscope. I addition to tinkering with microscopes, the inter-disciplinary aspect of this project allows me to interact and collaborate with experts in their respective fields broadening my exposure to novel ideas and methodologies.

Steven Moreno, Physics & Astronomy
My name is Steven and I am in my second year of my PhD Project for Light Sheet Microscopy For Whole Heart Imaging In Health and Medicine. I graduated from Illinois Institute of Technology with a Bachelor in Science in Biomedical Engineering in 2019 and then graduated from the University of Glasgow with a Masters in Science in Biomedical Engineering in 2020. I am originally from El Paso, Texas in the United States and have always cherished my family and hometown where I grew up. Today, I am working with Dr. Caroline Muellenbroich on my PhD project within the Imaging Concepts Group here at the University of Glasgow. I have found this project to be one of the most enriching and awarding experiences I have had so far as the project has provided a practical use for my biomedical engineering background which blends biology, physics, problem solving, programming, medicine, and chemistry together to serve a greater purpose in the field of health. In addition to this, I am also concurrently serving as a Graduate Teaching Assistant here at the University and demonstrating undergraduate laboratory experiments for the School of Physics and Astronomy. The city of Glasgow and the country of Scotland have been so welcoming to me in the past few years and helped me get through the difficult time that was the pandemic. I have grown to love exploring both the city and countryside in my free time to see what they have to offer those who are willing to venture out.

Lewis Williamson, Physics & Astronomy
I’m Lewis a PhD student studying three photon microscopy with the aim of applying the technique to imaging cardiac tissue. My academic interests include ultrashort lasers, nonlinear optics, pulse shaping and autocorrelation. Out-width academia I am a keen golfer and enjoy many other sport such as running, table tennis and climbing. I also enjoy to cook and occasionally brew some beer!