Yearly Archives: 2015

Combining photo-responsive fibers with thermo-responsive gels, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering and Clemson University have modeled a new hybrid material that could reconfigure itself multiple times into different shapes when exposed to light and heat, allowing for the creation of devices that not only adapt to their environment, but also display distinctly different behavior in the presence of different stimuli. Read More

As reported by Carrie Fogel in the Fall 2015 Sight & Sound newsletter of the Eye and Ear Foundation of Pittsburgh, while most people anticipate the summer season as a time for vacations and time away from work, that was not the case for McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Jeffrey Gross, PhD, the new Director of the Louis J. Fox Center for Vision Restoration. Dr. Gross arrived in Pittsburgh in late July; a time when many were spending their days on sunny beaches, Dr. Gross was already hard at work setting up his new laboratory in the University of Pittsburgh’s Biomedical Science Tower.  Dr. Gross’ research is now conducted at the Charles and Louella Snyder Laboratory for Retinal Regeneration and focuses on ocular development, disease, and regeneration. Read More

It was in 2010 that the Journal of Rehabilitation Research & Development published the guest editorial article entitled “Regenerative rehabilitation: A call to action” which was co-authored by McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty member Fabrisia Ambrosio, PhD, MPT, Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at the University of Pittsburgh with secondary appointments in the Departments of Physical Therapy, Orthopaedic Surgery, and Microbiology and Molecular Genetics.  In that piece, the authors explained: Read More

As reported by Carrie Fogel in the Fall 2015 Sight & Sound newsletter of the Eye and Ear Foundation of Pittsburgh, the Louis J. Fox Center for Vision Restoration is well known for engaging scientists of various backgrounds. Such collaborations help to ensure the success of vision restoration, which is the goal of the unique Ocular Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Ophthalmology (OTERO) Fellowship that is offered each year. Fellows, with backgrounds other than ophthalmology, are tasked with using a multi-disciplinary approach to pursue a ‘revolutionary’ idea that, if successful, will provide radical improvement in the treatment or prevention of vision impairment. One former OTERO fellow and currently an Assistant Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering and of Ophthalmology, Morgan Fedorchak, PhD (pictured), who has a PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Pittsburgh, had one such revolutionary idea; one that is generating excitement and anticipation from scientists, physicians, and patients alike. Read More

Heidi Hofer, PhD, dissertation defense was March 17, 2015.  Dr. Hofer entered the CATER Training Program through the University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering’s Bioengineering Graduate Program.  Her advisor was McGowan Institute associate director Rocky Tuan, PhD, professor and director of the Center for Cellular and Molecular Engineering, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.  The title of her thesis was: “Traumatized Muscle-Derived Multipotent Progenitor Cells: Pro-angiogenic Activity, Promotion of Nerve Growth, and Osteogenic Differentiation.”  Dr. Hofer is currently employed at Gradalis, Inc., Dallas, Texas, as a Manufacturing Associate. Read More

The Third Pitt Innovation Challenge (PInCh) focused on ideas for how to enhance health by bridging factors that impact different life stages.  At a recent live judging event, there were 6 winning projects announced, and 4 of them included teams of McGowan Institute faculty and students.  2015 McGowan Institute PInCh winning projects and teams include: Read More

McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Julie Phillippi, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, is the principal investigator of a National Institutes of Health R56 “Bridge Award.”  The project is entitled “Engineered Neovascularization of Vasa Vasorum” and includes McGowan Institute faculty co-investigators Thomas Gleason, MD, associate professor of Surgery, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Vera Donnenberg, PhD, associate professor of cardiothoracic surgery in Pitt’s School of Medicine, Phil Campbell, PhD, research professor at the Institute for Complex Engineered Systems at the Carnegie Institute of Technology (School of Engineering) at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), and Lee Weiss, PhD, research professor in the Robotics Institute at CMU. Read More

The work of McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Anna Balazs, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering and the Robert v. d. Luft Professor, Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, is featured on the cover of the November 10, 2015, issue of the publication, Langmuir, the American Chemical Society Journal of Surfaces and Colloids. Read More

Adam McInnes, MD, was a 2014 participant in the inaugural McGowan Institute “Regenerative Medicine Summer School.” The Summer School week, endorsed by the Society for Biomaterials and the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS), was initiated and continues to be led by McGowan Institute faculty member Bryan Brown, PhD, Research Assistant Professor with the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh with a secondary appointment in Pitt’s Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences. Read More

Every year, Popular Science honors the 10 brightest young minds that are reshaping science, engineering, and the world. McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Kathryn Whitehead, PhD, assistant professor of chemical engineering and biomedical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, was named one of the magazine’s 2015 honorees.  She is a member of “The Brilliant 10” for her innovative work on drug delivery systems, for designing nanoparticles that treat disease by delivering therapeutic drugs to specific areas in the body. Her research will revolutionize how we treat formidable diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, and hereditary disorders. Read More

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh are part of a multicenter team that has been awarded a $6.4 million, 3-year federal grant to figure out how the animal nose knows how to localize the smell of mates, food, and other significant scents. The co-principal investigators of the Pitt arm of the effort are McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Bard Ermentrout, PhD, Distinguished University Professor of Computational Biology, a Professor of Mathematics, and an Adjunct Professor of Neurobiology at Pitt, and Nathan Urban, PhD, Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at Pitt School of Medicine and Associate Director of the University of Pittsburgh Brain Institute. Read More

A team led by scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and the University of Pittsburgh has shown for the first time how one set of specialized cells survives under stress by manipulating the behavior of key immune system cells. Read More

In the 3 years following bariatric surgery, the majority of patients experience an improvement in pain and walking ability, according to the preliminary results of a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health-led analysis presented recently in Los Angeles at ObesityWeek, the annual international conference of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery and The Obesity Society.  McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Steven Belle, PhD, MScHyg, professor in the Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh and a co-director in the Epidemiology Data Center in the Graduate School of Public Health, is a co-author of the study. Read More

With the potential to allow quadriplegics to operate robotic limbs, to reverse damage caused by Parkinson’s disease, and to map the pathways of the 100 billion neurons of the brain, microelectrode arrays—or electronic brain implants—are keys to the human-computer interface. Two National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants totaling $4.7 million to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering will help to further research in improving how the implants perform in the brain and survive the body’s immune responses.  The principal investigators for this work are McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty members Xinyan “Tracy” Cui, PhD, William Kepler Whiteford Professor of Bioengineering and director of the Neural Tissue/Electrode Interface and Neural Tissue Engineering (NTE) Lab, and Takashi “TK” Kozai, PhD, assistant professor of bioengineering and founder of the Bio-Integrating Optoelectric Neural Interface & Cybernetics Lab (BIONIC Lab) at Pitt. Read More

Chronic exposure to arsenic can lead to stem cell dysfunction that impairs muscle healing and regeneration, according to a pre-clinical study conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine and Graduate School of Public Health. In a report published in Stem Cells, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty members Fabrisia Ambrosio, PhD, and Donna Stolz, PhD, and colleagues noted that inhibiting a certain protein in an inflammatory pathway can reverse the harmful effects and that environmental exposures might explain why some people don’t recover easily after injury or surgery. Read More

It was 30 years ago on October 24 in Pittsburgh that a Jarvik-7 total artificial heart was implanted into a patient at Presbyterian University Hospital.  This was the first clinical use of a mechanical blood pump in Pittsburgh, and 47-year-old Thomas Gaidosh (pictured) was the first recipient of this artificial heart.  The surgery was an emergency measure to keep Mr. Gaidosh alive until a donor heart was available for him.  The event was front page news in the Pittsburgh Press. Read More

As reported by John Tozzi of Bloomberg Business, when McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) biomedical engineer Adam Feinberg, PhD, tried to figure out how to synthesize human tissue 4 years ago, his supplies were prosaic: a kitchen blender, some gelatin packets from the supermarket baking aisle, and a $2,000 3D printer. Read More

McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty member J. Peter Rubin, MD, Chair of the Department of Plastic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, is a sponsor investigator for a U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program project, and hopes to recruit up to 20 patients in a randomized, within-patient controlled, feasibility study. CDR Mark Fleming at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center is the project principal investigator. Read More

“The original collaboration between Michael and myself was targeted at an entirely different technology and clinical issue, where we essentially stumbled upon the potential to create a biocompatible adhesive,” said Dr. Beckman, the George M. Bevier Professor of Engineering in Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering. “Clinicians have lacked internal adhesives that are both strong and safe, and it’s exciting that TissuGlu was the first internal tissue adhesive to be approved by the FDA.” Read More

The experiments, described ahead of print in the journal Regenerative Medicine, bring researchers closer to creating an implantable intestine as replacement therapy for a range of devastating disorders – including infections, cancer, and trauma – that result in loss or death of gut tissue. Chief among them is a condition that affects 12 percent of premature newborns, called necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), which is marked by the rapid death of intestinal cells and permanent loss of intestinal tissue. Read More

McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty members Ipsita Banerjee, PhD, associate professor of chemical and petroleum engineering and of bioengineering within the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering, and co-investigator Prashant Kumta, PhD, professor of bioengineering in the Swanson School, recently received a $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to explore an idea they have that would allow the manufacture of human pluripotent stem cells—these are the ones that can become virtually any tissue—on an industrial scale. Read More

Edible electronic medical devices are not a new idea. Since the 1970s, researchers have been asking people to swallow prototypes that measure temperature and other biomarkers. Currently, there are ingestible cameras for gastrointestinal surgeries as well as sensors attached to medications used to study how drugs are broken down in the body. Read More

McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty members Marina Kameneva, PhD, Research Professor of Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Professor of Bioengineering, and Director of the Artificial Blood Program at the McGowan Institute, and Jonathan Waters, MD, Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Professor in the Department of Bioengineering, Chief of Anesthesia Services at Magee Womens Hospital of UPMC, and the Medical Director in the Blood Management Division of Procirca, Inc., are members of the team of researchers who were recently awarded a Center for Medical Innovation (CMI) grant for their project, “Reducing alloimmunization and sickle crisis in sickle cell disease patients using a novel method of replacing HbS with donor Hb in autologous RBCs.”  The focus of this effort is to develop a novel method for treating sickle cell anemia.  Mark Gartner, PhD, in the Department of Bioengineering at Pitt, is also a member of the team. Read More

Friday, October 9^th           Presentation by: Dr. Bryan Brown

Friday, October 23^rd        Presentation by: Abby Stahl Read More

VADs are mechanical devices that help the heart pump blood from one of the main pumping chambers to the rest of the body. VADs have been used since the mid-1980s. In their early days, however, VADs were considered only as a short-term solution for a defective heart. The device was bulky, had a large support console (see console at the left in the 1990 photo above), and required patients to be hospitalized in an intensive care unit. The size of these early VAD pumps excluded most women and children from being candidates for this therapy. Read More

The new strategy combines two experimental techniques for reviving heart tissue after a heart attack. One approach is to inject a scaffolding material to reinforce the weakened muscle wall. Another is to inject stem cells or growth factors to help repair the damaged tissue. On their own, these individual methods have shown limited success in clinical trials. Read More

Dr. Wagner’s research interests are generally in the area of cardiovascular engineering with projects that address medical device biocompatibility and design, tissue engineering, and targeted imaging. His research group is comprised of graduate students in Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering as well as post-doctoral fellows with backgrounds in surgery, polymer chemistry, or engineering. Dr. Wagner and his group enjoy working across the spectrum from in vitro to clinical studies. The McGowan Institute and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center are uniquely positioned to allow such broad-based projects to flourish and complement one another. Researchers within Dr. Wagner’s group are afforded the opportunity to observe first-hand the clinical successes and failures of currently employed cardiovascular devices while concurrently working on projects that attempt to describe the current modes of failure, test solutions for the current device shortcomings, or develop technologies that may find application as future cardiovascular therapies. The front-line experience afforded by the clinical environment has proven invaluable in the learning experience of group members, not to mention the input such experience has on the creative environment. Read More

Co-led by McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty members Stephen Badylak, DVM, PhD, MD, Professor in the Department of Surgery, a Deputy Director of the McGowan Institute, and Director of the Center for Pre-Clinical Tissue Engineering within the Institute, and J. Peter Rubin, MD, Chair of the Department of Plastic Surgery, UPMC Endowed Professor of Plastic Surgery, and Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh, the research team uses extracellular matrix (ECM) from a pig’s bladder to regenerate diminished skeletal muscle. ECM is the remaining tissue after all the cells have been removed from the pig’s bladder. Dr. Badylak has been researching the effects of ECM since 1987. This study is the first to utilize ECM to replace and regenerate muscle tissue. Read More

Stem cells have the ability to develop into many different cell types, which means there are potential opportunities for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, chronic pain, and cancer. However, the realization of this potential remains limited by current challenges associated with differentiating stem cells selectively into specific cell types when cultured. Read More

The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) Academy provides rising high school seniors with 8 weeks of research-focused didactic and experiential learning at seven locations. Scholars work on their own research project in a dedicated research mentor’s laboratory. At the end of the program, scholars are asked to present their projects as an oral presentation and in a poster session. Participating scholars also learn important skills to help prepare them for success in college and in their future careers in science and medicine. McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Michael Lotze, MD, is the Director of the UPCI Academy and a Professor of Surgery and Immunology at the UPCI Hillman Cancer Center. Read More

Led by Timothy Billiar, MD, Pitt’s George Vance Foster endowed professor and chairman of the Department of Surgery and a McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty member, and Daolin Tang, MD, PhD, assistant professor of surgery at Pitt and the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI), researchers plan to explore the relationship between immunometabolism, meaning cellular energy regulation and immune function, and the development of sepsis. Read More

This symposium is designed to advance the use of biologic scaffolds for regenerative medicine and all general surgery applications via a series of objective presentations describing the potential benefits and risks associated with the use of such materials, factors that affect performance, and the clinical applications that may benefit most from their use. Topics range from the most basic science of scaffold remodeling at the molecular level through the preclinical and clinical level. The feedback from previous symposia (this is a bi-annual event) consistently identifies the equal mix of clinicians and basic scientists as the most beneficial and rewarding aspect of the meeting. Read More

The 2015 Wiegand Intern was Makenna Laffey who is a graduate of Pine-Richland High School. Ms. Laffey served her internship in the lab of McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty member Kacey Marra, PhD, associate professor in the Departments of Plastic Surgery in the School of Medicine and Bioengineering in the School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, director of the Plastic Surgery Research Laboratory in the Department of Plastic Surgery in Pitt’s School of Medicine, and co-director of the Adipose Stem Cell Center of the McGowan Institute. Ms. Laffey’s responsibilities included assisting in the preparation of histology specimens, fabrication and evaluation of controlled release polymers for controlled release drug delivery, and data analysis. Read More

While at Pitt and UPMC, Dr. Gottlieb assisted with equipment during human implantation and explantation of artificial heart devices, and monitored clinical values in operating room, intensive care unit, and step down unit settings. She trained on various heart assist devices and intra-aortic balloon pumps (IABPs), including CardioWest TAH, Thoratec VAD, Novacor VAD, Heartmate VAD, and Abiomed VAD; Arrow IABP, Datascope IABP, and Bard IABP. She also monitored IABP parameters and assisted with in-hospital and emergency air transport of patients with IABPs. Read More

At the award presentation ceremony, Mr. Keane will be presented with a plaque recognizing his outstanding research accomplishments within the tissue engineering and regenerative medicine field. He will also receive a complimentary registration to the 2015 TERMIS World Congress as well as an honorarium of $500 and reimbursement up to $1,000 to be used towards his travel expenses (airfare, hotel) to attend the conference. Read More

As reported by Mark Roth, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine deputy director Vijay Gorantla, MD, PhD, associate professor of surgery in the Department of Plastic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh, the administrative medical director of the Pittsburgh Reconstructive Transplant Program at UPMC, and a clinician who has helped pioneer Pitt’s hand and arm transplants, is the first to acknowledge that it will be years before surgeons can attempt whole eye transplants in human patients. But he says the approach has a key advantage over other attempts to repair traumatic injuries to the eye, whether they have come from a roadside bomb, an industrial accident, or a car collision. The eye is so complex that trying to repair its internal parts is an enormous challenge. Read More