Adjunct Professor of Medicine & Bioengineering

Administrative address:
UCSD Medical Center
Division of Cardiology
200 W. Arbor Drive, #8411
San Diego, CA 92103-8411
Phone: (858) 534-8102
jomens@ucsd.edu


Research Interests
My interests are in cardiac mechanics. I work in close association with the Cardiac Mechanics Research Group in the Department of Bioengineering and with faculty in the Department of Medicine. I am the principal and collaborating investigator on several research grants. My research focuses on the relationship between mechanics and structure in the normal and diseased heart. We have several ongoing projects including passive and active mechanics of the normal and ischemic heart, effects of coronary occlusions on regional ventricular mechanics, role of heat-shock protein in recovery from ischemia, and the relationship between fibrillar disarray and local mechanics in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. My other interests are in developing new techniques for measuring mechanics in small (rat and mouse) hearts. We are currently able to measure regional and global function in the mouse heart (about 0.5 cm in diameter) both in-vivo and in the isolated, perfused heart. These types of measurements will become increasingly important as more transgenic mice become available to study various cardiac diseases. I have also collaborated in development of finite element computer models of the heart for predicting stress and material properties in a more realistic fashion, and have continued my research on the structural remodeling and residual stress in the heart in ischemia and hypertrophy in both large and small animal.

Recent Publications

Omens JH: Left ventricular strain in the no-load state due to the existence of residual stress. Ph.D. dissertation in Engineering Sciences (Bioengineering), UCSD, 1988.

Omens JH, Fung YC: Residual strain in rat left ventricle. Circ Res 1990;66:37-45.

McCulloch AD, Omens JH: Factors affecting the regional mechanics of the diastolic heart. In: Glass L, Hunter PJ, McCulloch AD, ed. Theory of Heart: Biomechanics, Biophysics and Nonlinear Dynamics of Cardiac Function. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1990, 87-119.

Omens JH, Covell JW: Transmural distribution of myocardial tissue growth induced by volume overload hypertrophy in the dog. Circulation 1991;84;1235-1245.

McCulloch AD, Omens JH: Non-homogeneous analysis of three-dimensional transmural finite deformations in canine ventricular myocardium. J Biomech 1991;24:539-548.

Omens JH, May KD, McCulloch AD: Transmural distribution of three-dimensional strain in the isolated arrested canine left ventricle. Am J Physiol 1991;261:H918-H928.

Rodriguez EK, Omens JH, Waldman LK, McCulloch AD: Effect of residual stress on transmural sarcomere length distribution in rat left ventricle. Am J Physiol 1993;264:H1048-H1056.

Omens JH, MacKenna DA, McCulloch AD: Measurement of strain and analysis of stress in resting rat left ventricular myocardium. J Biomech 1993;26:665-676.

MacKenna DA, Omens JH, McCulloch AD, Covell JW: Contribution of collagen matrix to passive left ventricular mechanics in isolated rat hearts. Am J Physiol 1994;266:H1007-H1018.

Omens JH, Rockman HA, Covell JW: Passive ventricular mechanics in tight-skin mice. Am J Physiol 1994;266:H1169-H1176.

May-Newman KD, Omens JH, Pavelec RS, McCulloch AD: Three-dimensional transmural mechanical interaction between the coronary vasculature and passive myocardium in the dog. Circ Res 1994; 74:1166-1178.

Villarreal FJ, MacKenna DA, Omens JH, Dillmann WH: Myocardial remodeling in hypertensive Ren-2 transgenic rats. Hypertension 1995; 25:98-104.

Omens JH, Milkes DA, Covell JW: Effects of pressure overload on the passive mechanics of the rat left ventricle. Ann Biomed Eng 1995; 23:152-163.

May-Newman KD, Mathieu-Costello O, Omens JH, Klumb K, McCulloch AD: Transmural distribution of capillary morphology as a function of coronary perfusion pressure in the resting canine heart. Microvasc Res 1995; 50:381-396.

MacKenna DA, Omens JH, Covell JW: Left ventricular perimysial collagen fibers uncoil rather than stretch during diastolic filling. Bas Res Cardiol 1996; 91:111-122.

MacKenna DA, Omens JH: A semi-automated method for measuring collagen area fraction and size distribution using picrosirius red. Cardiovasc Pathobiol 1996; 1:104-117.

Omens JH, Farr DD, McCulloch AD, Waldman LK: Comparison of two techniques for measuring two-dimensional strain in the rat left ventricle. Am J Physiol 1996; 271: H1256-H1261.

Omens JH, Rodriguez EK, McCulloch AD: Transmural changes in stress-free myocyte morphology during pressure overload hypertrophy in the rat. J Mol Cell Cardiol 1996; 28: 1975-1983.

Emery JL, Omens JH, McCulloch AD: Strain softening in rat left ventricular myocardium. J Biomech Eng 1997;119: 6-12.

Costa KD, May-Newman KD, Farr D, O’Dell WG, McCulloch AD, Omens JH: Three-dimensional residual strain in midanterior canine left ventricle. Am J Physiol 1997; 273: H1968-H1976.

Omens JH, Miller TR, Covell JW: Relationship between passive tissue strain and collagen uncoiling in infarcted myocardium. Cardiovasc Res 1997; 33(2): 351-358.

Emery JL, Omens JH, McCulloch AD: Biaxial mechanics of the passively overstretched left ventricle. Am J Physiol 1997; 272:H2299-H2305.

Gallagher AM, Omens JH, Chu LL, Covell JW: Alterations in collagen fibrillar structure and mechanical properties of the healing scar following myocardial infarction. Cardiovasc Pathobiol 1997; 2(1): 25-36.

Emery JL, Omens JH: Mechanical regulation of myocardial growth during volume-overload hypertrophy in the rat. Am J Physiol 1997; 273:H1198-H1204.

Trost SU, Omens JH, Karlon WJ, Meyer M, Mestril R, Covell JW, Dillmann WH: Protection against myocardial dysfunction after a brief ischemic period in transgenic mice expressing inducible heat shock protein 70. J Clin Invest 1998; 101:855-862.

Summerour SR, Emery JL, Fazeli B, Omens JH, McCulloch AD: Residual strain in ischemic ventricular myocardium. J Biomech Eng 1998; 120:710-714.

McCulloch AD, Sung D, Wilson JM, Pavelec RS, Omens JH: Flow-function relations during graded coronary occlusions in the dog: effects of transmural location and segment orientation. Cardiovasc Res 1998; 37:636-645.

Omens JH, Vaplon SM, Fazeli B, McCulloch AD: Left ventricular geometric remodeling and residual stress in the rat heart. J Biomech Eng 1998; 120:715-719.

Omens JH: Stress and strain as regulators of myocardial growth. Prog Biophys Mol Biol 1998; 69:559-572.

Mazhari R, Omens JH, Waldman LK, McCulloch AD: Regional myocardial perfusion and mechanics: a model-based method of analysis. Ann Biomed Eng 1998; 26:743-755.

Emery JL, Omens JH, Mathieu-Costello OA, McCulloch AD: Structural mechanisms of acute ventricular strain softening. Int J Cardiovasc Med Sci 1998; 1:241-250.

Karlon WJ, Covell JW, McCulloch AD, Hunter JJ, Omens JH: Automated measurement of myofiber disarray in transgenic mice with ventricular expression of ras. Anat Rec 1998; 252:612-625.

Villarreal FJ, Hong D, Omens JH: Nicotine modified postinfarction left ventricular remodeling. Am J Physiol 1999; 276:H1103-H1106.

Karlon WJ, Hsu PP, Li S, Chien S, McCulloch AD, Omens JH: Measurement of orientation and distribution of cellular alignment and cytoskeletal organization. Ann Biomed Eng 1999; 27:712-720.

Karlon WJ, McCulloch AD, Covell JW, Hunter JJ, Omens JH: Regional dysfunction correlates with myofiber disarray in transgenic mice with ventricular expression of ras. Am J Physiol 2000; 278: H898-H906.

Zimmerman SD, Karlon WJ, Holmes JW, Omens JH, Covell JW: Structural and mechanical factors influencing infarct scar collagen organization. Am J Physiol 2000;278:H194-H200.

Weis SM, Emery JL, Becker KD, McBride DJ, Omens JH, McCulloch AD: Myocardial mechanics and collagen structure in the osteogenesis imperfecta murine (iom). Circ Res 2000;87:663-669.

Mazhari R, Omens JH, Covell JW, McCulloch AD: Structural basis of regional dysfunction in acutely ischemic myocardium. Cardiovasc Res 2000;47:284-293.

Sung D, Omens JH, McCulloch AD: Model-based analysis of optically mapped epicardial activation patterns and conduction velocity. Ann Biomed Eng 2001;28:1085-1092.

Paternostro G, Vignola C, Bartsch DU, Omens JH, McCulloch AD, Reed, JC: Age-associated cardiac dysfunction in drosophila melanogaster: Implications for genetic screening. Circ Res 2001;88:1053-1058.

Usyk TP, Omens JH, McCulloch AD: Regional septal dysfunction in a three-dimensional computational model of focal myofiber disarray. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2001;281:H506-514.

Mazhari R, Omens JH, Pavelec RS, Covell JW, McCulloch AD: Transmural distribution of three-dimensional systolic strains in stunned myocardium. Circulation 2001;104:336-341.

Omens JH, Usyk TP, Li Z, McCulloch AD: Muscle LIM protein deficiency leads to alterations in passive ventricular mechanics. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2002;282: H680-687.

Knöll R, Hoshijima M, Hoffman HM, Person V, Lorenzen-Schmidt I, Bang M-L, Hayashi T, Shiga N, Yasukawa H, Schaper W, McKenna M, Yokoyama M, Schork NJ, Omens JH, McCulloch AD, Kimura A, Gregorio CC, Poller W, Schaper J, Schultheiss HP, Chien KR: The cardiac mechanical stretch sensor machinery involves a Z-disk complex that is defective in a subset of human dilated cardiomyopathy. Cell 2002; 111: 943-956.

Gopalan SM, Flaim C, Bhatia SN, Hoshijima M, Knöll R, Chien KR, Omens JH, McCulloch AD: Anisotropic stretch-induced hypertrophy in neonatal ventricular myocytes micropatterned on deformable elastomers. Biotechnol Bioeng 2003; 81: 578-587.

Omens JH, McCulloch AD, Criscione, JC: Complex distributions of residual stress and strain in the mouse left ventricle: experimental and theoretical models. Biomech Mod Mechanobiol 2003; 1: 267-277.

Herrmann KL, McCulloch AD, Omens JH: Glycated collagen cross-linking alters cardiac mechanics in volume-overload hypertrophy. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2003; 284: H1277-H1284.

Sung D, Mills RW, Schettler J, Nayaran SM, Omens JH, McCulloch AD: Ventricular filling slows epicardial conduction and increases action potential duration in an optical mapping study of the isolated rabbit heart. J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol 2003; 14: 1-11.

Villarreal FJ, Griffin M, Omens J, Dillmann W, Nguyen J, Covell J: Early short-term treatment with doxycycline modulates postinfarction left ventricular remodeling. Circulation. 2003;108: 1487-92.

Ashikaga H, Criscione JC, Omens JH, Covell JW, Ingels Jr NB: Transmural left ventricular mechanics underlying torsional recoil during relaxation. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2004; 286:H640-7.

Villarreal FJ, Omens J, Nguyen J, Dillmann W, Risteli J, Covell J: Early degradation and serum appearance of type I collagen fragments after myocardial infarction. J Mol Cell Cardiol. 2004;36: 597-601.

Ashikaga H, Omens JH, Ingels Jr NB, Covell JW: Transmural mechanics at left ventricular epicardial pacing site. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2004; 286:H2401-7.

Ashikaga H, Omens JH, Covell JW. Time-dependent remodeling of transmural architecture underlying abnormal ventricular geometry in chronic volume overload heart failure. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2004;287: H1994-2002.