Dr. Emilia Entcheva

Professor Emilia Entcheva directs the Cardiac Optogenetics and Optical Imaging Laboratory at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, George Washington University. Her research group combines biophotonics tools with human stem-cell-derived cardiomyocyte technology and gene editing approaches to aid the advancement of personalized medicine. The lab played a key role in the development of cardiac optogenetics, combining experimental and computational tools. They have implemented highly parallel platforms for interrogation of cardiac function using human stem-cell derived cardiomyocytes. Recent work combines all-optical cardiac electrophysiology, on-demand oxygenation with perfluorocarbons, microfluidics, optical instrumentation and control, and transcriptomics analysis to help improve the maturity of engineered human heart tissues and their use in drug-screening applications. Professor Entcheva is an AIMBE Fellow and her work is supported by the NSF and NIH.