Alan Garfinkel

About

Alan Garfinkel is a professor in the field of Integrative Biology and Physiology at UCLA College of Life Sciences. His research interests include the mathematical modeling of cellular and tissue electrophysiology, as well as the analysis of data from experimental and clinical arrhythmias using techniques of nonlinear dynamics, specifically chaos theory. He is involved in the development of pharmacologic and electrophysiologic interventions aimed at preventing or controlling arrhythmias. Dr. Garfinkel holds a B.A. in Mathematics and Philosophy from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in Philosophy/Mathematics from Harvard University.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Neuroscience
• Geochemistry
• Mineralogy
• Cardiology
• Internal medicine
• Physics
• Mathematical analysis
• Psychology
• Mathematics

Selected publications

• Are physiological oscillations <i>physiological</i> ?

  The Journal of Physiology · 2023-08-25 · 28 citations

  reviewOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Abstract Despite widespread and striking examples of physiological oscillations, their functional role is often unclear. Even glycolysis, the paradigm example of oscillatory biochemistry, has seen questions about its oscillatory function. Here, we take a systems approach to argue that oscillations play critical physiological roles, such as enabling systems to avoid desensitization, to avoid chronically high and therefore toxic levels of chemicals, and to become more resistant to noise. Oscillati…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• R-on-T and the initiation of reentry revisited: Integrating old and new concepts

  Heart Rhythm · 2022 · 27 citations

  DOI

• Geochemical studies on rock varnish and petroglyphs in the Owens and Rose Valleys, California

  PLoS ONE · 2020 · 22 citations

  We investigated rock varnish, a thin, manganese- and iron-rich, dark surface crust, on basaltic lava flows and petroglyphs in the Owens and Rose Valleys (California) by portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) and femtosecond laser-ablation inductively-coupled-plasma mass spectrometry (fs-LA-ICPMS). The major element composition of the varnish was consistent with a mixture of Mn-Fe oxyhydroxides and clay minerals. As expected, it contained elevated concentrations of elements that are typically enriche…

  DOI

• Redundancy and multifunctionality among spinal locomotor networks

  Journal of Neurophysiology · 2020 · 15 citations

  -linked tdTomato expression) during a first bout of 30-min stepping were also labeled for c-Fos during a second bout of stepping. This finding suggests variability of neural networks that enables selection of many combinations of neurons (synapses) when generating each step cycle.

  DOI

• Ultrastructure and cardiac impulse propagation: scaling up from microscopic to macroscopic conduction

  The Journal of Physiology · 2024-11-29 · 8 citations

  reviewOpen access

  The standard conception of cardiac conduction is based on the cable theory of nerve conduction, which treats cardiac tissue as a continuous syncytium described by the Hodgkin-Huxley equations. However, cardiac tissue is composed of discretized cells with microscopic and macroscopic heterogeneities and discontinuities, such as subcellular localizations of sodium channels and connexins. In addition to this, there are heterogeneities in the distribution of sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves, wh…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant P01HL078931

  NIH · $29.3M · 2017

• NIH Grant P50HL052319

  NIH · $19.9M · 2005

• BECS: Pattern Formation by Vascular Stem Cells: Control of Complex Biological Systems through Bottom-up and Top-down Approaches

  NSF · $310k · 2010–2012

Frequent coauthors

• James N. Weiss

  196 shared

• Zhilin Qu

  University of California, Los Angeles

  139 shared

• Peng‐Sheng Chen

  Third Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University

  110 shared

• Hrayr S. Karagueuzian

  University of California, Los Angeles

  85 shared

• Shien‐Fong Lin

  49 shared

• Tsu-Juey Wu

  Taichung Veterans General Hospital

  39 shared

• Fagen Xie

  Kaiser Permanente

  38 shared

• Daisuke Sato

  University of California, Davis

  31 shared

Labs

• Integrative Biology and PhysiologyPI

  First Years Second Years Continuing Students

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