In this year’s final issue of Biophysical Journal, BME predoctoral student Mark Walker, a member of the Winslow lab, has achieved a rare trifecta. In addition to the publication of his article entitled “Superresolution Modeling of Calcium Release in the Heart”, the journal features his artistic rendering of a model Ca²⁺ spark on the cover, features a video clip of a model-generated Ca²⁺ spark on its homepage, and features a New and Notable article about his work entitled “The Ryanodine Receptor Patchwork: Knitting Calcium Spark Dynamics”. In this editorial, Eric Sobie describes the work of Walker et al as having potentially similar long-term impact as a couple of the most highly lauded landmark publications in this field over the last quarter century. Mark’s novel simulations bring together the fine geometrical details of the Ca²⁺ release unit with a contemporary mechanistic model of Ca²⁺-release channel gating. The results reveal new insight into the roles of Ca²⁺-store mediated channel regulation and release channel cluster shape on Ca²⁺ sparks, and hence lead the way for predicting how cardiac cell contraction will be altered in diseases where these mechanisms and structures are disturbed.

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