The Little Book of Irish Science SFI Little Book of Irish Science | Page 75

Pulling on your
heart strings
The chordae tendineae or ‘heart strings’ are fibrous strings
that attach to the flap-like openings between the upper
and lower chambers of the heart. They stop these flaps
from buckling as the blood flow changes pressure inside
the respective chambers. Prof Bruce Murphy and team at
the Science Foundation Ireland funded AMBER Centre
in Trinity College have measured the fatigue strength of
the chords in an effort to design predictive models of their
life span, particularly in relation to diseases of the heart.
www.ambercentre.ie
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