The micro-anatomical structures within cardiac muscle cells are specialized to produce force rapidly and reliably. Especially important are nanoscopic domains in the cell named dyads, which are crucial for coupling electrical excitation of the cell and its contraction. With disease, these dyads become disrupted and broken down, leading to a weaker contraction. However, due to their incredibly small size, it has been hard to quantify how structures change and how changed anatomical architecture affects function. Computational modeling and analysis therefore plays a critical role in furthering our understanding of structure-function relationships in cardiac cells.

In this work, we present new tools and techniques for imaging and analyzing cardiac dyads using super-resolution microscopy. This allows for better quantification of how dyads change with disease. Based on microscopy data we also generate computational geometries which we combine with mathematical reaction-diffusion  modeling to yield new insight into structure-function relationships in contraction of the heart.