Successful course in cardiac function and metabolism in Tromsø.

Seven PhD students from all over Norway attended this three-day course, which offered hands-on training and laboratory demonstrations on experimental methods to assess cardiac energy consumption and function.

The course included a few keynote lectures, but mainly focused on laboratory training. The students were divided into groups, and were introduced for relevant training on an intact pig model, isolated mitochondria and ex vivo mouse hearts. The course also offered opportunities to discuss each student’s own PhD project and how it relates to the methods presented. The hands-on approach to the course was appreciated by the students, many of them which are interviewed in the longer video below.

Following the course the students should be able to outline the key factors that affect the heart’s efficiency, metabolism and respiration of mitochondria. They should have gained basic understanding of the experimental setup for assessing myocardial metabolism, mitochondrial respiration and invasive cardiac function, as well as the biological foundation of how changes in metabolism may lead to pathophysiological changes in the cardiovascular system. Another aim of the course was to give the students the skills to critically evaluate scientific papers based on experimental methods for measuring cardiac efficiency and metabolism.

COURSE:

Metabolic and Mechanical Function of the Heart
Tromsø, January 17-19 2017
Number of participants: 7
NORHEART contact: Ole-Jakob How
Program