Ardo Illaste

ardoCurrently a SciEx Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Physiology, University of Bern, Switzerland

I have recently graduated with a PhD in biophysics. I am working on a number of different biophysics projects that are either experimental or computational, or that mix both approaches. All my research topics deal in a way or another with cardiomyocytes and their functioning. The main focus is on cardiac energetics, diffusion restrictions, Ca2+ handling and image analysis.
Recently I’ve started a blog and have some code on Github. You can also find me on LinkedIn View Ardo Illaste's LinkedIn profile

PROJECTS

  • Using raster image correlation spectroscopy (RICS) to measure anisotropy of diffusion in rat cardiomyocytes
  • Stochastic computational model of diffusion to determine the nature and characteristics of restrictions to intracellular diffusion
  • Calcium handling in cardiomyocytes derived from human embryonic stem cells (in cooperation withDr. Eric A. Sobie, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, NY)
  • Computational modelling of mitochondrial energy metabolism
  • LSJuicer – an open source software for analysing confocal images of calcium transients – https://code.google.com/p/lsjuicer/
  • Noise removal from high-speed framescan stacks using pattern recognition and machine learning methods

 

PHD THESIS

You can download the PDF of my thesis “Analysis of Molecular Movements in Cardiac Myocytes” here or read it online

PUBLICATIONS

Full list of publications available on my Google Scholar page

  1. Ardo Illaste, Martin Laasmaa, Pearu Peterson, Marko Vendelin;
    Analysis of molecular movement reveals latticelike obstructions to diffusion in heart muscle cells,
    Biophysical Journal, 102(4):739-748, February 2012, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2012.01.012
  2. David Schryer, Ardo Illaste, Pearu Peterson, Marko Vendelin;
    Sensitivity Analysis of Flux Determination in Heart by H218O -provided Labeling Using a Dynamic Isotopologue Model of Energy Transfer Pathways,
    PLoS Computational Biology, PLoS Comput Biol, 8(12):e1002795., 2012,http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002795
  3. Perundurai S. Dhandapany, Frank Fabris, Rahul Tonk, Ardo Illaste, Ioannis Karakikes, Mehran Sorourian, Jipo Sheng, Roger J. Hajjar, Marco Tartaglia, Eric A. Sobie, Djamel Lebeche, Bruce D. Gelb;
    Cyclosporine attenuates cardiomyocyte hypertrophy induced by RAF1 mutants in Noonan and LEOPARD syndromes,
    Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology, Volume 51, Issue 1, July 2011, Pages 4-15, ISSN 0022-2828, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yjmcc.2011.03.001
  4. Ardo Illaste, Mari Kalda,  David W. Schryer, and Mervi Sepp;
    Life of mice – development of cardiac energetics,
    The Journal of Physiology,December 1, 2010 588 (23) 4617-4619;http://dx.doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.2010.199901

CONTACT

Email: illaste@pyl.unibe.ch

Address:
Department of Physiology,
University of Bern
Buhlplatz 5,
3004 Bern
Switzerland

Phone: +41 786 772 465