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Portrait of Alex Carll

Directory Entry For: Alex Carll

Assoc Professor
HSC - Environmental Health Institute
502-852-4243 alex.carll@louisville.edu
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Academic Profile

Biography

Dr. Carll has studied the cardiovascular harms of exposures to stressors, particularly inhaled toxicants, for 20 years.  Specializing in cardiac pathophysiology and inhalation toxicology, Dr. Carll has demonstrated how exposures to air pollutants and consumer product aerosols can impair cardiac electrophysiology and pump function, leading to arrhythmias and heart failure exacerbation. Through both animal and human studies, his work indicates the autonomic nervous system as a key mediator in these pathophysiologic effects, especially in tobacco product toxicity. Dr. Carll is further expanding his research into the physiologic impacts of other stressors (e.g., exercise and thermal stress) and autonomic modulation of cardiac conduction.

Research Interests

Exposure to airborne toxicants is tied to arrhythmia, cardiac arrest, and heart failure in the general public. Our team seeks to validate and better understand these associations. We investigate how environmental exposures impair cardiac conduction and contraction in both rodents and humans, with particular interest in the autonomic nervous system’s role in inhalant toxicity. We study the impacts of multiple stressors, including inhalation of e-cigarette aerosols, volatile organic compounds, and particulate matter, and thermal stress due to ambient heat exposures.

Current Investigative Questions

In both rodents and humans, the Carll Lab investigates:

  1. The neural and cellular pathways underlying pollutant-induced myocardial dysfunction and remodeling.
  2. How e-cigarette aerosols adversely affect cardiac function, intracellular signaling, and neuroregulation.
  3. How the autonomic nervous system contributes to ambient heat exposure-induced cardiac dysfunction.


Findings

Our recent findings suggest that tobacco product aerosols alter cardiac conduction and promote arrhythmia in both mice and humans through autonomic, neural, and endocrine pathways.

Degrees and Certifications

PhD
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2008-2012
MSPH
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2006-2008
AB
Duke University, 2000-2004