The Pitt Innovation Challenge (PInCh®) awarded a total of $485,000 to nine projects that propose creative solutions to address health problems including diagnostics, treatments, and interventions. Four of the winning projects include McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty members on their teams. The challenge, which is in its seventh year, was sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI).
Coronary artery disease – a leading cause of death in the US – narrows or blocks arteries that carry a vital supply of blood, oxygen, and nutrients to the heart. A stent can be inserted to widen the artery, but these devices must be closely monitored to ensure that they do not re-narrow, a common complication called restenosis.
Approximately 85% of late-stage clinical trials of candidate drugs fail because of drug safety problems or ineffectiveness, despite promising preclinical test results. To help improve the design and implementation of clinical trials, the National Institutes of Health has awarded 10 grants to support researchers’ efforts in using tiny, bioengineered models of human tissues and organ systems to study diseases and test drugs. One major goal of the funded projects is to develop ways to better predict which patients are most likely to benefit from an investigational therapy prior to initiating clinical trials. McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Alejandro Soto-Gutierrez, MD, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh and an affiliated faculty member of the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC and the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute, is a co-principal investigator on one of the 10 recently funded projects.
Regenerative Rehabilitation seeks to optimize patient outcomes through an integration of two fields: regenerative medicine and rehabilitation science. The former focuses on tissue repair or replacement due to loss from injury, disease, or age. This is achieved primarily through the enhancement of endogenous stem cell function or the transplantation of exogenous stem cells. The latter focuses on the use of mechanical and other stimuli to promote functional recovery. This synergy between biological and bioengineering advances is critical to developing novel and impactful translational therapies. However, there currently are few opportunities for regenerative scientists to be exposed to the methodologies commonly employed in the clinic by rehabilitation professionals. Conversely, most rehabilitation scientists and clinicians are not exposed to the many advances of regenerative medicine. This disconnect has impeded the pace of progress in the field. To this end, the International Consortium for Regenerative Rehabilitation—comprised of 16 institutions—aims to increase interdisciplinary interaction. Thus, as technologies are developed and our understanding of regenerative biology progresses, advances may be efficiently translated to the clinic.
Cardiol Therapeutics Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing innovative therapies for inflammatory heart disease, received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for its Investigational New Drug application to commence a Phase II/III, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial investigating the efficacy and safety of CardiolRx™, a pharmaceutically produced extra strength cannabidiol formulation, in 422 hospitalized COVID-19 patients with a prior history of, or risk factors for, cardiovascular disease (CVD). The trial will take place at major centers in the United States, where the prevalence of COVID-19 remains high. McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Dennis McNamara, MD, Professor of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, and the Director of the Heart Failure/Transplantation Program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, is Chair of the Steering Committee for the trial.
The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) Council has named its 2020 cohort of Fellows, ASCB members selected for their lifetime achievements in advancing cell biology. McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Ora Weisz, PhD, was one of 18 members who were chosen for their outstanding contributions to the field of cell biology and to the community of cell biologists through their service to the Society.
A bunched-up bundle of a protein-based biologic is practically useless. Unfortunately, protein aggregation creates a common problem in the bioprocessing of many therapeutics. Addressing this issue will probably depend on analyzing the problem in new ways, which could trigger changes in various parts of the process.
McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Derek Angus, MD, MPH, has been named University of Pittsburgh’s inaugural associate vice chancellor for health care innovation, a role that will complement his recent appointment as UPMC’s chief health care innovation officer and foster more strategic linkages between the two organizations to enable learning health systems.
The Cellular Approaches to Tissue Engineering and Regeneration (CATER) program is pleased to congratulate one of our trainees, Ms. Kien Tran, on receiving an F31 grant award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study, “Development of Novel Testicular Tissue Organ Culture Systems to Induce in vitro Spermatogenesis.” Ms. Tran is a 4th year PhD candidate in the Molecular Genetics and Developmental Biology Program. She is currently working with Dr. Kyle Orwig at the Magee-Womens Research Institute. The scope of her research focuses on developing next-generation tissue-base and cell-based technologies to restore fertility in male patients, specifically in childhood cancer survivors. To achieve this goal, her current studies focus on understanding developmental biology of germ cells across different species, from rodents to non-human primates to humans. Her work will contribute to development of new therapeutic methods for infertile male patients to conceive biological children.
TV network Xploration Station’s new series Life 2.0 recently covered how the clinical trial efforts in the laboratory of McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine Deputy Director Stephen Badylak, DVM, PhD, MD, are changing lives with breakthroughs in regenerative medicine. The series, entitled “Body Shop,” highlighted Dr. Badylak’s patient, Keith Kaufman, and his muscle recovery following a motorcycle accident.
A blood protein test could detect the severity of head trauma in under 15 minutes, according to research published recently in the Journal of Neurotrauma.
Diabetic patients monitor their blood glucose throughout the day, watching for peaks and valleys. Just taking a sample once during a visit to the doctor’s office would not give a clear picture of whether the patient’s diabetes is under control. The same is true of glaucoma patients, whose intraocular pressure (IOP), or pressure within the eye, is too high.
University of Pittsburgh’s Human Engineering Research Laboratories (HERL) recently announced its latest patent to help improve mobility for people who use prosthetics.
The McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the Department of Pathology is pleased to announce that the Cellular Approaches to Tissue Engineering and Regeneration (CATER) Program has been awarded a new five-year grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The program, which continues to help students broaden their skills and knowledge in both life sciences and bioengineering, provides a solid foundation in the discipline of Regenerative Medicine (RM) so that trainees can eventually build a productive independent career in cell and tissue-based therapy for human disease and injury. The renewed focus of the training program will now incorporate the timely concept of synthetic biology as well.
A study from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Cedars-Sinai addresses a mystery first raised in March: Why do some people with COVID-19 develop severe inflammation? The research shows how the molecular structure and sequence of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein—part of the virus that causes COVID-19—could be behind the inflammatory syndrome cropping up in infected patients.
Just as a climbing plant needs the right trellis to thrive, a small-diameter tissue-engineered vascular graft (TEVG) needs the right scaffold to transform seeded cells into a native-like artery that can save a life.
The Transplantation Society (TTS) honored professionals in the field of transplantation during its 28th Annual TTS 2020 Virtual Congress. These awards recognize individuals who have made a major impact in the field of transplantation. This year, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Anthony “Jake” Demetris, MD, received the TTS Outstanding Achievement (Clinical) Award.
Polymer particles of any architecture, e.g. combs, stars, rings, have been produced for years thanks to the groundbreaking ATRP method discovered by Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, PhD, the J.C. Warner Professor of Natural Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University and affiliated faculty member of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Now scientists show how to carry out such reactions even more easily – in the presence of oxygen, in homelike conditions.
McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Michel Modo, PhD, Professor in the Department of Radiology at the University of Pittsburgh with secondary appointments in the Department of Bioengineering and the Center for Neural Basis of Cognition, and colleagues recently published a paper, titled “Mesoscale diffusion magnetic resonance imaging of the ex vivo human hippocampus,” in Human Brain Mapping where the authors anticipate that ex vivo mesoscale imaging will yield novel insights into human hippocampal connectivity. The paper was also the featured cover of the journal. The abstract of the paper reads:
One of the world’s most prestigious academic medical journals announced recently that it is strengthening its editorial team with expertise from UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
After a baby is born, doctors sometimes examine the placenta—the organ that links the mother to the baby—for features that indicate health risks in any future pregnancies. Unfortunately, this is a time-consuming process that must be performed by a specialist, so most placentas go unexamined after the birth. A team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC)—including McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Philip Leduc, PhD, William J. Brown Professor of Mechanical Engineering with appointments in Biological Sciences, Computational Biology, and Biomedical Engineering at CMU—report the development of a machine learning approach to examine placenta slides in The American Journal of Pathology, published by Elsevier, so more women can be informed of their health risks.
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) undergraduate Tahlia Altgold makes biomedical research using silk run more smoothly.
Gene therapy generally relies on viruses, such as adeno-associated virus (AAV), to deliver genes into a cell. In case of CRISPR-based gene therapies, molecular scissors can then snip out a defective gene, add in a missing sequence or enact a temporary change in its expression, but the body’s immune response to AAV can thwart the whole endeavor.
Every time you flex your bicep or stretch your calf muscle, you put your cells under stress. Every move we make throughout the day causes our cells to stretch and deform. But this cellular deformation can be dangerous and could potentially lead to permanent damage to the DNA in our cells, and even cancer. So how is it that we’re able to keep our bodies moving without constantly destroying our cells? Thanks to a new study by McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Chemical Engineering Professor Kris Dahl, PhD, and Associate Professor Sara Wickström, MD, PhD, of the University of Helsinki, we now know that the answer lies in a humble mineral we consume every day.
The International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering (IAMBE) recently announced that 28 distinguished colleagues have been elected to its 2020 Class of Fellows. Two of these notable honorees are McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty members: Sanjeev Shroff, PhD, and Yu-li Wang, PhD.
As a Senior Staff Writer for Orthopedics Today, Ms. Casey Tingle recently reviewed the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in the health care sector. In her article she highlighted where AI may provide benefits to patients with musculoskeletal injuries. Her work included input from McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine deputy director Stephen Badylak, DVM, PhD, MD, professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh, who said AI may be able to identify whether tissues that are healing from a traumatic injury will have a good or bad outcome based on certain biomarkers.
A multi-institute collaboration including the University of Pittsburgh received more than $31 million by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) to study regenerative therapies and to improve patient care by providing solutions for the unmet clinical problems in dental, oral, and craniofacial medicine.
In a tremendous demonstration of global collaboration, an international team led by clinician-scientists at UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have pooled data from 121 hospitals in eight countries to find that inexpensive, widely available steroids improve the odds that very sick COVID-19 patients will survive the illness.
Especially in settings where personal protective equipment, or PPE, is in short supply, intubation — inserting a breathing tube down a patient’s throat — poses a major risk of SARS-CoV-2 exposure for doctors and nurses as viral particles are released into the air.
LyGenesis, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on regenerative medicine founded by McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty member Eric Lagasse, PharmD, PhD, recently announced the publication of four peer-reviewed papers on its organ regeneration technology. Dr. Lagasse is LyGenesis’s Chief Scientific Officer, Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh, and Director of the Cancer Stem Cell Center at the McGowan Institute. Dr. Lagasse is a co-author on each of the publications.
Patients who suffer from thrombosis, pulmonary embolism or stroke are usually put on drugs that help their blood flow more smoothly through their body. Occupying a large section of the drug market, anticoagulants, or “blood thinners” as they are popularly known, can keep blood clots from forming or getting bigger, and can therefore help with recovery from heart defects or prevent further complications.
Chartwell Pennsylvania, LP, a provider of home infusion, specialty pharmacy, and enteral nutrition, recently became the first provider to administer TEPEZZA (teprotumumab-trbw) in a home-infusion setting. Approved on January 21, 2020, TEPEZZA is the first and only FDA-approved medicine for the treatment of thyroid eye disease (TED), a rare and serious autoimmune disease. Home infusion therapy continues to ease the burden of care placed on hospitals and other health care facilities throughout the COVID-19 outbreak.
Hepatocytes — the chief functional cells of the liver — are natural regenerators, and the lymph nodes serve as a nurturing place where they can multiply. In a new study published in the journal Liver Transplantation, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine showed that large animals with ailing livers can grow a new organ in their lymph nodes from their own hepatocytes. A human clinical trial is next.
“If you had a patient in need of a dentist, which dentist would you refer them to?”
This is the question asked to thousands of dentists to help determine who the topDentists should be. Dentists and specialists are asked to take into consideration years of experience, continuing education, manner with patients, use of new techniques and technologies, and of course physical results. Pittsburgh Magazine’s annual list, which in 2020 contains 414 dentists across 10 specialties, includes three McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty members:
McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty members Jelena Janjic, PhD, Associate Professor of Pharmaceutics in the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Mylan School of Pharmacy at Duquesne University and the Founder and Co-Director of the Chronic Pain Research Consortium at Duquesne, and Vijay Gorantla, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Surgery, Ophthalmology and Bioengineering at the Wake Forest School of Medicine, will serve as co-principal investigators on a recent grant funded through the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program. Dr. T. Kevin Hitchens, Director of Preclinical MRI, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center; Director of the Animal Imaging Center, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; and Research Associate Professor of Neurobiology, University of Pittsburgh is also a co-principal investigator. The award of $1.5M over three years from the Reconstruction Transplant Research Program will focus on the project entitled “Nanoimaging for Noninvasive Monitoring of Donor and Recipient Immune System Contribution to Acute and Chronic Rejection in VCA.” The abstract of this work follows:
McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Eni Halilaj, PhD, received the Post-Doctoral Young Scientist Award from the American Society of Biomechanics (ASB). This award recognizes early achievements by promising young scientists who are within five years of receiving their PhD. Selection is based upon the scientific quality of the submitted material. The awardee must attend the annual ASB meeting to present their work in a special awards session. It is expected that the awardee will submit a full-length manuscript for publication in the Journal of Biomechanics. The award consists of an engraved plaque, a check for $500, and a waiver of conference fees for the annual ASB meeting.
McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine deputy director Stephen Badylak, DVM, PhD, MD, professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh, is an inventor of 71 U.S. patents and over 300 patents worldwide. In August 2020, Dr. Badylak received two new patents relative to his work with extracellular matrix (ECM). They are:
McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member John Pacella, MD, Associate Professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and an Interventional Cardiologist within the UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute, is partnering with Microvascular Therapeutics (MVT), a biotechnology company based in Tucson, Arizona, and a leader in microbubble technology. MVT recently was awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), a part of the National Institutes of Health.
The U.S. Department of Transportation recently announced $4.925 million in grants to fund four new Tier 1 University Transportation Centers (UTCs) to advance research and education programs that address critical transportation challenges facing our nation. The University of Pittsburgh was named one of the recipients of $1 million for its project entitled “Implications of Accessible Automated Vehicles and Mobility Services for People with Disabilities.”
Carnegie Mellon University Biomedical Engineering (BME) PhD student Erica Comber, a student in the laboratory of McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Keith Cook, PhD, Professor and Associate Department Head for Graduate Education at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in its Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Director of the Bioengineered Organs Initiative, has been awarded the 2020 Mara H. Wasburn Early Engineering Educator Grant by the Women in Engineering Division (WIED) of the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE). The award covers expenses associated with Ms. Comber’s presenting her research at the 2020 ASEE conference. Ms. Comber has served as a teaching assistant for BME senior design for two years, working under CMU’s Conrad Zapanta, PhD. Her education research at CMU aims to provide students with a capstone design course that mimics the work dynamic between Biomedical Engineers and Industrial Designers in the medical device industry.
