Bursac's research interests include engineering of heart tissue substitutes with controllable geometry and function; experimental and therapeutic applications. Optical mapping of electrical propagation in excitable tissues.

A final common pathway of many cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial infarction or heart failure is irreversible damage of the cardiac muscle tissue. This effect is generally attributed to the inability of cardiac cells to replicate after injury and the lack of a substantial source of stem cells in the heart.

My research goals are the following: 1) to use cell, and tissue engineering techniques to develop novel experimental modalities that flexibly mimic the structure of healthy and diseased heart at multiple organizational levels from single cell to two- and three-dimensional cell networks, 2) to apply genetic, pharmacological, and electrophysiological spatio-temporal alterations to study physiological, pathophysiological and developmental structure-function relationships in cardiac muscle, and 3) to utilize these studies to identify possible targets for novel antiarrhythmic therapies and to improve design rules for gene and tissue engineering treatments of diseased heart.

Possibility to engineer cardiac cell networks with user-defined, reproducible architecture can facilitate separation and systematic study of the role of structural and genetic factors that contribute cardiac function and disease. Micropatterning of extracellular matrix proteins using soft lithography and microcontact printing techniques and engineering of synthetic and natural scaffolds are employed to flexibly mimic structure-function relationships of healthy and diseased heart at multiple organizational levels. Immunoassaying and optical recordings with voltage and calcium sensitive dyes in this system allow for structure-function evaluation of engineered tissue before and after possible implantation, and analysis of complicated spatio-temporal changes in electrical activity encountered in cardiac arrhythmia and fibrillation. Computer models that incorporate cardiac cell geometry, distribution of intercellular connections, discrete tissue microarchitecture and electrical cell membrane properties can aid the experimental design and interpretation of results.

Contact Info:

Office Location:	136 Hudson Hall
Office Phone:	(919) 660-5510
Email Address:
Web Page:	http://bursaclab.bme.duke.edu/people/bursac.html

Teaching (Fall 2009):

• BME 248.01, TISSUE ENGINEERING

  Hudson 207, WF 11:40 AM-12:55 PM

• BME 248.01, TISSUE ENGINEERING Synopsis

Education:

PhD, Boston University, 2000

BSE, University of Belgrade, 1994

Specialties:

Tissue Repair, Tissue Engineering
Heart, Electrophysiology

Research Interests:

Bursac's research interests include engineering of heart tissue substitutes with controllable geometry and function; experimental and therapeutic applications. Optical mapping of electrical propagation in excitable tissues.

Areas of Interest:

Stem cell therapies for heart disease
Tissue engineering
Cardiac electrophysiology
Micropatterning and microfluidics
In vitro model systems

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions

Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship, Johns Hopkins University, Biomedical Engineering, 2000-2002
Honorably Mentioned Finalist, National Association for Sport & Physical Education, 2002
Merit Award, Biomedical Engineering Society, 2002
Postdoctoral Fellowship, American Heart Association, 2000-2002
Scientist Development Grant, American Heart Association, 2005-2008
Trainee Abstract Grant, American Heart Association, 2002

Postdocs Mentored

• Lisa Satterwhite (September 01, 2007 - present)  
• Joseph Tranquillo (August 01, 2004 - August 1, 2005)  

Recent Publications   (More Publications)   (search)

1. D. M. Pedrotty and R. Y. Klinger and R. D. Kirkton and N. Bursac, Cardiac fibroblast paracrine factors alter impulse conduction and ion channel expression of neonatal rat cardiomyocytes, Cardiovascular Research, vol. 83 no. 4 (September, 2009), pp. 688 -- 697  [abs].
2. L. C. Mcspadden and R. D. Kirkton and N. Bursac, Electrotonic loading of anisotropic cardiac monolayers by unexcitable cells depends on connexin type and expression level, American Journal Of Physiology-cell Physiology, vol. 297 no. 2 (August, 2009), pp. C339 -- C351  [abs].
3. N. Badie and N. Bursac, Novel Micropatterned Cardiac Cell Cultures with Realistic Ventricular Microstructure, Biophysical Journal, vol. 96 no. 9 (May, 2009), pp. 3873 -- 3885  [abs].
4. W. N. Bian and N. Bursac, Engineered skeletal muscle tissue networks with controllable architecture, Biomaterials, vol. 30 no. 7 (March, 2009), pp. 1401 -- 1412  [abs].
5. N. Badle and N. Bursac, Micropatterned Ventricular Slice: Role of Realistic Tissue Microstructure In Impulse Conduction, Circulation, vol. 118 no. 18 (October, 2008), pp. S493 -- S493 .