Yearly Archives: 2017

Our tactile senses keep us aware of our environment and are essential for the execution of natural movement. Though there have been many advances in modern prosthetic devices, the loss of sensory feedback remains an issue, and many amputees struggle with everyday movement. Lack of sensory feedback in transtibial (below-knee) amputation means that the prosthesis user must rely on their residual limb for all motor skills. Patients suffer with problems in balance control, risk of falling, and severe phantom limb pain. A University of Pittsburgh group seeks to address this need for sensory feedback in prosthetic devices.

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High-intensity exercise three times a week is safe for individuals with early-stage Parkinson’s disease and decreases worsening of motor symptoms.  These results are according to a new phase 2, multi-site trial led by Northwestern Medicine and University of Colorado School of Medicine scientists. The randomized clinical trial included 128 participants ages 40 to 80 years old from Northwestern University, Rush University Medical Center, the University of Colorado, and the University of Pittsburgh.  McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Anthony Delitto, PhD, Professor and Dean of the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, was a member of the Pitt team in this study.  The paper was published in JAMA Neurology December 11, 2017.

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McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Antonio D’Amore, PhD, Research Assistant Professor in the Departments of Surgery and Bioengineering, and a member of the lab of McGowan Institute Director William Wagner, PhD, was recognized by his Italian colleagues for his scientific accomplishments.

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Through the University of Pittsburgh’s Innovation Institute, the First Gear program helps shape Pitt inventions originating from University research from early-stage discovery to products and services that can be taken to market. The program offers hands-on guidance and mentorship that takes an inventor through the necessary steps in creating a go-to-market plan that can result in the creation of a new enterprise or licensing agreement for the technology.

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December 2017 | VOL. 16, NO. 12| www.McGowan.pitt.edu

Pittsburgh Business Times Recognizes the McGowan Institute and Affiliated Faculty for Innovative Achievements

Western Pennsylvania has long been a hub for innovation. This year the Pittsburgh Business Times (PBT) introduced its Innovation Awards, a program that recognizes those that made extraordinary advances in their respective fields, challenging conventional thinking. They are the disruptors, creating new products and developing new approaches that challenge traditional approaches.  The McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine was selected as one of the winners of this inaugural award for its pioneering development and clinical implementation of regenerative medicine-based therapies.  Also, the Human Engineering Research Laboratory under the leadership of McGowan Institute affiliated faculty member Rory Cooper, PhD, was recognized for the development of the PneuChair (TM) pneumatic wheelchair as a PBT Innovation Award winner. The third awardee that has a McGowan Institute relationship is Qrono, Inc.  This Pittsburgh start-up was formed by McGowan Institute faculty member Steven Little, PhD, and his former graduate student Sam Rothstein, PhD.

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Dr. Tuan is the Director, Center for Cellular and Molecular Engineering, the Arthur J. Rooney, Sr. Professor and Executive Vice Chair, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, the Director, Center for Military Medicine Research, and a Professor in the Departments of Bioengineering and Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Recently, the Council of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) unanimously approved the appointment of Dr. Tuan as the eighth Vice-Chancellor and President of CUHK for a period of 6 years from 1 January 2018.

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As reported by Dan Mohler for the University of Pittsburgh’s Innovation Institute, from the beginning, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty member Bryan Brown, PhD, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering, recognized that the nerve repair technology he was developing addressed an unmet clinical need.

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Highlighted in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine 2017 Annual Report, six men with severe second-degree burns caused by scalding water, hot tar, gasoline, a chemical explosion, contact with a live electrical wire, and ignition of paint-can fumes have become the latest patients treated at UPMC Mercy Hospital with an innovative skin regeneration technology.

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Western Pennsylvania has long been a hub for innovation. This year the Pittsburgh Business Times (PBT) introduced its Innovation Awards, a program that recognizes those that made extraordinary advances in their respective fields, challenging conventional thinking. They are the disruptors, creating new products and developing new approaches that challenge traditional approaches.  The McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine was selected as one of the winners of this inaugural award for its pioneering development and clinical implementation of regenerative medicine-based therapies.  Also, the Human Engineering Research Laboratory under the leadership of McGowan Institute affiliated faculty member Rory Cooper, PhD, was recognized for the development of the PneuChair (TM) pneumatic wheelchair as a PBT Innovation Award winner. The third awardee that has a McGowan Institute relationship is Qrono, Inc.  This Pittsburgh start-up was formed by McGowan Institute faculty member Steven Little, PhD, and his former graduate student Sam Rothstein, PhD.

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McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Rory Cooper, PhD, has been named an ambassador for the “Mobility Unlimited Challenge,” a $4 million global contest to change the lives of people with lower-limb paralysis, culminating in the unveiling of the winners in Tokyo in 2020.  This effort will harness creative thinking from across the world to accelerate innovation and encourage collaboration with users to find winning devices to transform the world for people with lower-limb paralysis.

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November 2017 | VOL. 16, NO. 11| www.McGowan.pitt.edu

As We Celebrate Thanksgiving, Let Us Extend Our Thanks…

• To the 240+ scientists, engineers and clinicians that are the teams of professionals who are committed to the development and translation of regenerative medicine and medical device-based therapies;
• To the dedicated support staffs who make it possible for the scientists, engineers and clinicians to pursue the goals and objectives of the Institute;
• To the hundreds of student trainees who are learning the fundamentals and developing the applications that continue to make regenerative medicine the promise of the future in improved health care and quality of life;
• To the many agencies, foundations, companies, and individual donors without whose fiscal support and encouragement the outcomes that we give thanks for would not have been possible, and;
• To the many patients who have trusted our teams. These individuals are the true pioneers and the heart of the achievements we recognize.

Since the formation of the McGowan Center for Artificial Organ Development (1992) and the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine (2001) there have been many accomplishments advancing the science and clinical achievements in regenerative medicine-based therapies. We see progress in the areas of medical devices, tissue engineering and cell-based therapies, and the prospects for the future are many.  Thanks for the opportunities and outcomes created by all who participate in or support the initiatives of the McGowan Institute.  Best wishes for another successful year!

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Recognizing the impact of his tenure on students, faculty, and peers, the Board of Visitors of the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering recognized McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Robert Parker, PhD, with the 2017 Board of Visitors Award. Dr. Parker, Professor and Vice Chair for Graduate Education in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, was recognized for faculty excellence in teaching, research, and service, and for contributions to the University, the Swanson School, and the engineering discipline.

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The first human heart transplant in the world was performed at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, on December 3, 1967.  After training over a decade in heart surgery, Christiaan Barnard, MD, PhD, Head of the Department of Experimental Surgery, accepted the risk of transplantation and successfully performed the operation. Many believe that Dr. Barnard’s courage to perform the human heart transplant, while others in the field hesitated, was his greatest contribution.

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McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty member Andrew Schwartz, PhD—Distinguished Professor of Neurobiology at the University of Pittsburgh with adjunct appointments at the Center for Neural Basis Cognition (a joint venture of the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University), at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, and at Pitt’s Department of Bioengineering and its Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation—recently participated in MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Technology Review’s 17^th Annual EmTech where this year’s most significant news on emerging technologies was examined.  Dr. Schwartz’s session featured “For Brain-Computer Interfaces to Be Useful, They’ll Need to Be Wireless.”

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In order to make lifesaving liver transplants available throughout central and north Florida, Florida Hospital for Children is partnering with Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC to develop a comprehensive pediatric liver transplant program. This will be the first program of its kind in Orlando, the second in Florida, and is expected to start accepting patients in January.

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Philips Grand Challenge, hosted by Philips and the University of Pittsburgh Innovation Institute, awarded four University of Pittsburgh faculty members a total of $100,000. Each is innovating in the area of sleep and respiratory care.

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Embedding a decision support tool in the hospital electronic health record increases detection of acute kidney injury, reducing its severity, and improving survival, according to new research from the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC.

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Several studies have provided strong evidence that adolescents—people in their teens to early twenties—have a higher vulnerability than adults to addictive substances like cocaine. To understand the origin of the age effect requires a sensor to effectively measure how cocaine interacts with different parts of the brain over time.

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The final event in the Pitt Innovation Challenge (PInCh®) concluded with the award of funding to innovative projects featuring wearable devices that address problems in health care. The challenge, which is in its fourth year, was sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI). The central question addressed by this year’s contestants was, “How can we use wearable technology to address an important health problem?”

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Each year, the United States suffers an extreme shortage of organ donations, with only a quarter of patients in need receiving a transplant. Many transplantable organs are lost when a donor’s heart fails, and the organs stop receiving vital blood flow. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh can potentially double the amount of successful organ donations by developing a novel stent to maintain blood flow to organs, even during the donor’s final heart beats.

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We are pleased to announce the establishment of an interdisciplinary research program in the science of eye transplantation. This unique program in the science of eye transplantation is a joint effort between the Department of Ophthalmology and the Department of Plastic Surgery, and is led by McGowan Institute affiliated faculty member Kia Washington, MD, the director, in coordination with Dr. Sahel.  In addition to leveraging the skills and expertise of members of the Departments of Ophthalmology and Plastic Surgery, this innovative program will also include experts in immunology, transplant surgery, the neurosciences, and other related disciplines.

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When Michael Wells had an idea for a healthcare startup when he was a University of Pittsburgh student, he didn’t know where to go for help within the University to move it forward.  For the past seven years, the successful healthcare investor and entrepreneur has helped accelerate the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship at Pitt through the Michael G. Wells Competition to ensure that any student with such an idea has access to resources and support to take it all the way.  Also, Laurie Kuzneski, together with her husband Andy, created the Kuzneski Innovation Cup.  In its second year, the competition assists Pitt innovators with non-healthcare ideas.  Both competitions’ judges agreed that choosing this year’s winners was very difficult due to the quality of all the nominees’ presentations.

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Low back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide and becomes increasingly common as human bodies age. Currently, more than 40 percent of low back pain patients are prescribed opioids at some point. Researchers at Pitt want to bring that number down.

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University of Pittsburgh scientists—including McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty members Valarian Kagan, PhD, DSc, Simon Watkins, PhD, John Kellum, MD, and Ivet Bahar, PhD—are unlocking the complexities of a recently discovered cell death process that plays a key role in health and disease, and new findings link their discovery to asthma, kidney injury, and brain trauma. The results are the early steps toward drug development that could transform emergency and critical care treatment.

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October 2017 | VOL. 16, NO. 10| www.McGowan.pitt.edu

An Engineer’s Guide to the Embryo

In roughly 48 hours, the single cell of the fertilized frog egg will undergo dramatic change to develop vital body parts like muscles, a skeleton, eyes, a heart, and a tadpole tail. Scientists have been studying this process to better understand human development, birth defects, and cancer and to advance technologies like organoid generation and cell replacement therapy. Scientists can disrupt embryo development, pause it, and accelerate it; however, they can’t exactly explain how development works. Supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), bioengineers at the University of Pittsburgh are taking a crack at understanding what is going on inside the egg.

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Virginia Tech and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History presented the first annual ACCelerate: ACC Smithsonian Creativity and Innovation Festival on October 13-15, 2017. The festival, programmed by Virginia Tech’s Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology and the Museum’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, was a 3-day celebration of creative exploration and research at the nexus of science, engineering, arts, and design (SEAD). Visitors to the festival interacted with innovators and experienced new interdisciplinary technologies developed to address global challenges. The event was free and open to the public.

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In roughly 48 hours, the single cell of the fertilized frog egg will undergo dramatic change to develop vital body parts like muscles, a skeleton, eyes, a heart, and a tadpole tail. Scientists have been studying this process to better understand human development, birth defects, and cancer and to advance technologies like organoid generation and cell replacement therapy. Scientists can disrupt embryo development, pause it, and accelerate it; however, they can’t exactly explain how development works. Supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), bioengineers at the University of Pittsburgh are taking a crack at understanding what is going on inside the egg.

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White blood cells are like the “assassins” of systems biology. Some destroy viruses by swallowing them whole, others lie ready to sound the alarm with inflammation, while “natural killer” white blood cells hose down infected cells with a toxin that causes immediate cell death. The human immune system is an intense, fast-paced game of cat and mouse on a cellular level, and thanks to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, now the game can take place on a cell phone.

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A multidisciplinary team of UPMC physicians, including McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty members, recently completed the first Less Invasive Ventricular Enhancement™ (LIVE™) procedure in the United States to treat patients whose hearts can no longer pump enough blood to the rest of their body due to coronary artery disease.

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The Partnership for Public Service honored McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Rory Cooper, PhD, research scientist at VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System and professor at the University of Pittsburgh, with a Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal (Sammie) for his work as director of the Human Engineering Research Laboratory (HERL).

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Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC announced recently new leadership appointments in its Heart Institute and Division of Pediatric Cardiology.  McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Jacqueline Kreutzer, MD, professor of pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, is now appointed as chief of the Division of Pediatric Cardiology.

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ALung Technologies, Inc., was founded in 1997 by McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty members William Federspiel, PhD, Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh, and the late Brack Hattler, MD, a renowned cardiothoracic surgeon. Drs. Federspiel and Hattler and the team from the McGowan Institute Medical Devices Laboratory developed the original Hemolung technology which was subsequently licensed by ALung for commercial development. The Hemolung Respiratory Assist System (RAS) has been approved outside of the United States since 2013 and is commercially available in major European markets.

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McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty member Marina Kameneva, PhD, Research Professor of Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Professor of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, and Director of the Artificial Blood Program at the McGowan Institute, along with co-inventors Denis Bragin, PhD, and Edwin Nemoto, PhD, from the University of New Mexico, recently received a U.S. patent for their development entitled “Rheological treatment of brain ischemia by drag reducing polymers.”

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McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Shilpa Sant, PhD, was named one of eleven of the 2017 Young Innovators of Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (CMBE) and her work is featured in the October 2017 issue of the journal. As a 2017 CMBE Young Innovator, Dr. Sant will present her research in a special, two-part invited platform session at the 2017 Annual Meeting of BMES in Phoenix, Arizona.

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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a $1.2 million grant to a multi-institutional project led by the University of Pittsburgh to engineer a 3-dimensional joint-on-a-chip called the “microJoint,” to replicate a human joint on a small scale. The microJoint will be used to study and test drugs for the treatment of arthritic joint diseases. McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine associate director Rocky Tuan, PhD, is the principal investigator of the award.

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September 2017 | VOL. 16, NO. 9| www.McGowan.pitt.edu

Findings About Immune System Could Stop Allergic Skin Reactions at the Cellular Source

Recently reported by PittWire, many people have suffered through an itchy skin rash after a brush with poison oak, wearing jewelry containing nickel, or using latex gloves.

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Heat, moisture, and force, in addition to other factors, can lead to pressure injuries — or bed sores — which are common among immobile patients and individuals who use wheelchairs. Many technologies and guidelines exist to help prevent and treat pressure injuries, but there is little evidence to prove which technologies are most effective for patients with different risk factors.

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Molecular chelating agents are used in many areas ranging from laundry detergents to paper pulp processing to precious metal refining. However, some chelating agents, especially the most effective ones, do not degrade in nature and may pollute the environment. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering are developing machine learning procedures to discover new chelating agents that are both effective and degradable.

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Recently reported by PittWire, many people have suffered through an itchy skin rash after a brush with poison oak, wearing jewelry containing nickel, or using latex gloves.

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McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Robert Parker, PhD, Professor in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the Swanson School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, Member of the Molecular Therapeutics/Drug Discovery Program at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, and Member of the Clinical Research, Investigation, and Systems Modeling of Acute Illness Center in the Department of Critical Care Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, will become a William Kepler Whiteford Endowed Professor in Engineering for a term of 5 years.

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