| Affiliations: | Michael E. DeBakey Institute Undergraduate Research Program |
| Project Leader: | Steven Shao stevenshao@tamu.edu Biomedical Science |
| Faculty Mentor: | Randolph Stewart, DVM, Ph.D. |
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Meeting Times:
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Summer 2016 (complete) |
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Team Size:
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4 (Team Full) |
| Open Spots: | 0 |
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Special Opportunities:
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Presentation at student Research Week, Research experience working with an experienced faculty. |
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Team Needs:
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Writing and editing skills. |
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Description:
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Cardiovascular diseases make up the leading cause of death in the United States and around the world. Estimates of left ventricular ejection fraction are widely used clinical indices to track cardiac performance and progression of heart disease. Ejection fraction is defined as the ratio of stroke volume over end-diastolic volume of a ventricle. However, it is not that simple. Clinicians run into a phenomenon in which patients with and without heart failure would appear to have the same ejection fraction. This is problematic to any clinician using this value to diagnose heart failure. This project aims to define the primary determinants of ejection fraction by further expanding and understand the implications each parameter involves. Team members will gain a foundation of the cardiovascular system while learning the fundamentals of research and modeling. |