Our research explores how blue whales and humpback whales have evolved unique physiological adaptations to survive in their aquatic environments. These whales perform extended breath-hold dives, with sometimes heart rates as low as 2 beats/minute. Understanding these adaptations could reveal new insights into heart rate biology and inspire innovative treatments for human heart diseases. Due to difficulties in obtaining tissue samples and sequencing their complex genomes, baleen whales are understudied at the molecular level. Through this new collaboration between Ashley, Wheeler, and Goldbogen Labs, we have now successfully sequenced the genomes of two blue whales and two humpback whales, enabling us to study their unique biological processes. We will establish cell culture models using skin-blubber biopsies from whales in Monterey Bay, reprogram them into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and differentiate them into cardiomyocytes. By comparing whale heart cells to human heart cells, we aim to identify differences in heart rate regulation at the cellular level. This collaboration between Stanford Oceans and Stanford Medicine combines expertise in marine biology and medical research, aiming to uncover mechanisms of heart function and develop potential new therapies for heart disease.