France
olivier.bernus@u-bordeaux.fr
Olivier Bernus is Professor at the University of Bordeaux (France) and Scientific Director at the Electrophysiology and Heart Modeling Institute Liryc. He graduated in Mathematical Physics in 1999 at the University of Ghent (Belgium) and obtained his Ph.D in Physics from the same university in 2003 under the supervision of Professors Alexander Panfilov and Henri Verschelde. His thesis was entitled “Development of a realistic computer model of the human ventricles for the study of re-entrant arrhythmias”. He subsequently worked as a postdoctoral fellow from 2004 until 2006 at SUNY Upstate Medical University (Syracuse, USA) in Arkady Pertsov’s lab on the development of new cardiac optical imaging approaches. He was then appointed on a tenure-track position at the Institute of Membrane and Systems Biology (University of Leeds, UK) in the field of cardiac electrophysiology, before joining Liryc in 2011.
Professor Bernus’ main research interests focus on the mechanisms underlying cardiac arrhythmias, with a specific interest in ventricular arrhythmias, using a large array of techniques, including computer modelling, optical imaging and high-resolution structural imaging. He coordinates a human heart donor program at Liryc in collaboration with the University Hospital of Bordeaux, which has allowed obtaining unprecedented insights into human cardiac pathophysiology. He is also pursuing the development of novel techniques for three-dimensional depth-resolved optical imaging of cardiac electrical activity and noninvasive imaging and mapping approaches for improved risk prediction.
He has previously coordinated major grants in various countries (IWT and FWO fellowships in Belgium, EPSRC grant in the UK, Marie Curie network in France). He is currently implicated in two ANR funded projects on atrial fibrillation (UNMASC) and the role of the ventricular conduction system in sudden cardiac death (PURKINJENET), is a senior PI in a Leduc Transatlantic Network of Excellence (RHYTHM), and is involved in various collaborative projects with the industry.
