Christopher O'Shea

Dr Christopher O'Shea, Assistant Professor

Tel: tba | Email: Christopher.O-Shea@warwick.ac.uk

Following completing my PhD from the University of Birmingham in 2020, I was awarded a Sir Henry Wellcome Fellowship to develop novel computational tools and approaches for analysis of electrical signals in the heart measured both in the lab (using optical dyes) and the clinic (using catheter-based electrode systems) jointly with Birmingham, King’s College and Northwestern University. I moved to Warwick in May 2025, where I aim to further development novel approaches, and use these tools to better understand the pathophysiology of cardiac rhythm disorders such as ventricular tachycardia and atrial fibrillation, and how we can better treat these diseases.

ORCID | Google Scholar | PubMed

Plain English

The heartbeat is controlled by cell level electrical signals that spread through the heart in a precise pattern. In disease, these signals can become disorganised, leading to dangerous heart rhythm problems, arrhythmias. In my lab, we are looking to develop new tools and approaches to better understand and analyse these complex signals. We combine this with research into the underlying causes of arrhythmias, from the single molecule to the tissue level. to help improve treatment.

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Christopher O'Shea

Dr Christopher O'Shea, Assistant Professor

Tel: tba | Email: Christopher.O-Shea@warwick.ac.uk

ORCID | Google Scholar | PubMed

Plain English

Summary

Coordinated conduction of electrical signals through the heart is essential for life. When this coordination breaks down—due to injury, genetic factors, systemic disease or other factors —it can lead to cardiac arrhythmias, a major global health burden. The central aim of my lab is to better understand why arrhythmias occur and, crucially, how we can improve their treatment, by applying multidisciplinary approaches that bring together physical sciences, computer science, and biology.

In the lab, we use advanced optical methods to directly map the cardiac action potential (the electrical signal) and calcium transients (the link between electrical activity and contraction) with high spatial and temporal resolution—capturing events across thousands of locations at timescales of less than a millisecond. We apply these approaches in models ranging from 2D and 3D cellular cardiac in vitro models all the way up to the whole mammalian heart. These models enable us to find unique insights in to the causes of cardiac rhythm disorders.

While such techniques are not yet feasible in patients, clinical tools such as catheter-based electrode mapping provide powerful and vital profiling of the diseased human heart to guide treatment, such as ablation of disease-causing tissue in ventricular tachycardia or atrial fibrillation. A key part of our work therefore, in collaboration with clinical colleagues at Warwick and beyond, is developing new analytical tools—drawing on advances in computer vision, artificial intelligence, and in silico modelling—to bridge the gap between experimental research and clinical care.

Selected publications:

O'Shea C, Holmes AP, Yu TY, Winter J, Wells SP, Correia J, Boukens BJ, De Groot JR, Chu GS, Li X, Ng GA, Kirchhof P, Fabritz L, Rajpoot K, Pavlovic D. ElectroMap: High-throughput open-source software for analysis and mapping of cardiac electrophysiology. Sci Rep. 2019 Feb 4;9(1):1389. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-38263-2. PMID: 30718782; PMCID: PMC6362081.

Baines O, Sha R, Kalla M, Holmes AP, Efimov IR, Pavlovic D, O'Shea C. Optical mapping and optogenetics in cardiac electrophysiology research and therapy: a state-of-the-art review. Europace. 2024 Feb 1;26(2):euae017. doi: 10.1093/europace/euae017. PMID: 38227822; PMCID: PMC10847904.

O'Shea C, Holmes AP, Winter J, Correia J, Ou X, Dong R, He S, Kirchhof P, Fabritz L, Rajpoot K, Pavlovic D. Cardiac Optogenetics and Optical Mapping - Overcoming Spectral Congestion in All-Optical Cardiac Electrophysiology. Front Physiol. 2019 Mar 7;10:182. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2019.00182. PMID: 30899227; PMCID: PMC6416196.

O'Shea C, Winter J, Holmes AP, Johnson DM, Correia JN, Kirchhof P, Fabritz L, Rajpoot K, Pavlovic D. Temporal irregularity quantification and mapping of optical action potentials using wave morphology similarity. Prog Biophys Mol Biol. 2020 Nov;157:84-93. doi: 10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2019.12.004. Epub 2019 Dec 30. PMID: 31899215; PMCID: PMC7607254.