Current News

McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine director William Wagner, PhD, named the 2021 Founders Award recipient from the Society For Biomaterials (SFB).  The Founders Award is based on long-term, landmark contributions to the discipline of biomaterials.  Dr. Wagner will be presented with the award at the virtual SFB 2021 Annual Meeting & Exposition being held April 20-23, 2021, during which he will make a plenary address. As the recipient of this prestigious recognition, he will receive a cash award and free registration to the virtual 2021 SFB Annual Meeting & Exposition. Read More

Monoclonal antibodies, a COVID-19 treatment given early after coronavirus infection, cut the risk of hospitalization and death by nearly 70% in those most likely to suffer complications of the disease, according to a preliminary analysis of UPMC patients who received the medication compared to similar patients who did not. Read More

Marissa Behun, a first-year PhD student in bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh, received a Predoctoral Clinical and Translational Science Fellowship. This competitive award equips researchers with the skills to advance the translation of discoveries into improved patient outcomes and health policy. Read More

The McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine welcomes new affiliated faculty member Sruti Shiva, PhD. Read More

McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Cecelia Yates, PhD is the recipient of the 2020 Emerging Innovator Award.  Dr. Yates will be presented with this prestigious honor during the pre-recorded awards ceremony being held virtually by the Innovation Institute on April 22 at 4:30 p.m. Read More

William Federspiel, PhD, Director of the Medical Devices Laboratory at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, is the recipient of the 2020 Marlin Mickle Outstanding Innovator Award.  Dr. Federspiel will be presented with this prestigious honor during the pre-recorded awards ceremony being held virtually by the Innovation Institute on April 22 at 4:30 p.m. Read More

Nuclear power offers an efficient, reliable way to provide energy to large populations – as long as all goes well. Accidents involving nuclear reactors such as those that took place in 1986 at Chernobyl and at Fukushima Daiichi after the March 2011 tsunami raise major concerns about what happens if the worst occurs and large numbers of people are simultaneously exposed to high levels of radiation. Currently, there are no effective, safe therapies for total body irradiation (TBI) – a condition known as acute radiation syndrome (ARS). That could change, in the future based on new research published in Stem Cells Translational Medicine. Read More

A University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine-led survey of dozens of surge capacity managers at hospitals nationwide captures the U.S. health care system’s pandemic preparedness status in the months before the first COVID-19 cases were identified in China. McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Derek Angus, MD, MPH, Executive Vice President, and Chief Healthcare Innovation Officer, UPMC; Associate Vice Chancellor for Healthcare Innovation, University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences; Distinguished Professor and Mitchell P. Fink Endowed Chair, Department of Critical Care Medicine, University of Pittsburgh and UPMC; Senior editor, JAMA, is a co-author of the study published in the journal JAMA Network Open. Read More

A dislocated shoulder is a common sports injury that can occur with a single swing of the tennis racket or an awkward fall on the field. Though popping the bone back into the socket may seem like a simple solution, the reality is more complex. Read More

The International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine (ISSLS) Prize program, sponsored by European Spine Journal, comprises three awards of $20,000 each. Prizes are awarded competitively on the basis of scientific merit in one or more of the following areas: Basic Science, Bioengineering Science, and Clinical Science. Read More

During the swarming of birds or fish, each entity coordinates its location relative to the others, so that the swarm moves as one larger, coherent unit. Fireflies on the other hand coordinate their temporal behavior: Within a group they eventually all flash on and off at the same time and thus act as synchronized oscillators. Read More

UPMC recently announced a series of leadership changes that will further enhance its clinical operations, innovation, research, and overall excellence.  Three of these appointees are also McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty members.  They are: Read More

McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Shawn Bengtson, RQAP-GLP, Director, Quality Assurance-Quality Systems Programs, with the assistance of Nika Hazen, Quality Systems Development Manager, played a key role in the University of Pittsburgh Center for Vaccine Research’s (CVR’s) pursuit of improved COVID-19 medical countermeasures and therapeutic technologies. Read More

ALung Technologies, Inc., the leading provider of low-flow extracorporeal carbon dioxide removal (ECCO2R) technologies for treating patients with acute respiratory failure, announced the recent achievement of a significant milestone – enrollment of 100 patients in its U.S. based VENT-AVOID pivotal trial. Read More

The path for women in STEM fields has historically been fraught with obstacles that their male counterparts may not have had to face. The path is a bit clearer today thanks to the women who walked it before: Women like Rachel Carson, the marine biologist and environmentalist; Katherine Johnson, the space scientist who made the Apollo 11 flight possible; and Edith Clarke, the first professionally employed female electrical engineer in the U.S. Read More

The University of Pittsburgh is teaming up with medical device company RevBio, Inc. to study the effects of an adhesive biomaterial on bone health in space. Read More

The McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine held its 2021 Scientific Retreat March 9, 10, and 11, 2021.  Due to restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Retreat was virtual with all programs presented via Zoom. Read More

In 2019, the International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory formed a research partnership with the University of Pittsburgh’s McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Read More

The Henry L. Hillman Foundation recently announced a $25 million gift to the University of Pittsburgh.  In all, $20 million of the gift will fund vision care research and development through The Eye & Ear Foundation, which supports Pitt’s Departments of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology by advancing leading-edge academics and research to enhance patient care. As a result of the gift, The Eye & Ear Foundation has passed the halfway point in its campaign to support vision restoration breakthroughs, advance technologies and therapies addressing vision loss, lower barriers to healthcare for all Pittsburghers, and fuel the growth of the city’s burgeoning biotech sector.  The gift will, among other efforts, improve access to vision care for underserved communities through outreach and direct care; help build and staff a vision “street lab” to test new treatments and therapies in safe, controlled, virtual and real-life environments; and support research into breakthrough programs such as biomedical solutions to corneal blindness. The gift will also fund commercialization efforts and will, in turn, create job and training opportunities for adjacent neighborhoods and the city with an emphasis on promoting equitable access to services and employment. Read More

A study published in the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine identifying the top 100 most-cited articles on anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction, the procedure to fix the most commonly injured ligament in the knee, found that the University of Pittsburgh was the most prolific institution of influential ACL research. Furthermore, Freddie Fu, MD, Chair of Orthopaedic Surgery at Pitt and an affiliated faculty member of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, was the number one author. Read More

Compared with women whose blood pressure during pregnancy was normal, women with a history of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, such as preeclampsia and gestational hypertension, have major differences in the structure and function of the heart a decade after childbirth, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Flordeliza Villanueva, MD, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology and Vice Chair for Pre-Clinical Research of the Department of Medicine, and Director of Non-Invasive Cardiac Imaging at the UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute, is a co-author on the publication. Read More

The McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine welcomes new affiliated faculty member Anita Saraf, MD, PhD. Read More

McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Rocky Tuan, PhD, Vice-Chancellor and President, the Lee Quo Wei and Lee Yick Hoi Lun Professor of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), has been named a 2021 Fellow of the Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS). Being one of the first scholars in Hong Kong to earn this prestigious honor, Dr. Tuan is recognized by the ORS for his outstanding achievements in the field of musculoskeletal research and contributions to the ORS. Read More

The gear is one of the oldest mechanical tools in human history and led to machines ranging from early irrigation systems and clocks, to modern engines and robotics. For the first time, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering have utilized a catalytic reaction that causes a two-dimensional, chemically coated sheet to spontaneously “morph” into a three-dimensional gear that performs sustained work. Read More

An abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) can be a ticking time bomb if undiscovered in time. However, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh are developing a new model to better predict at-risk patients. And the tools they are using apply mechanical testing to the human body – which is itself a complex machine. Read More

The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) announced the election of 174 new members of the AIMBE College of Fellows in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in medical and biological engineering.  Two of those inductees include McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty members: Read More

DNA viruses, such as herpesviruses and poxviruses, are among the most prolific and deadly viruses on Earth. Their ability to proliferate widely is due in large part to the way these viruses incubate in the body. Many DNA viral infections can enter what’s known as a latent state, in which the person does not experience symptoms of illness, though the virus is still present and able to reactivate to a proliferative state later. Latent viral infections also express different markers than the proliferative phenotypes, rendering them invisible to current treatments and screening. Read More

At the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, the Tumor Microenvironment Engineering Laboratory (TME Lab) is where researchers employ a quantitative approach that integrates microfluidics, systems biology modeling, and in vivo experiments to investigate the role of the tumor microenvironment on breast and ovarian cancer growth, metastasis, and drug resistance. The goal of the TME lab research program is to discover biomarkers that guide new drug development and improve prognosis, develop new strategies to optimize existing treatment protocols, and engineer microfabricated tools that enable screening and personalization of cancer therapies. Read More

The mechanism by which acute viral respiratory infections promote secondary bacterial growth and infection in the airways depends on iron-carrying extracellular sacs secreted by the cells lining the host’s airways, report researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in a paper published in Cell Reports.  McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty member Donna Stolz, PhD, associate director of the Center for Biologic Imaging, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and an associate professor in the Departments of Cell Biology and Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh, is a co-author on the paper. Read More

Academics, researchers, and scientists are being recognized for their significant contributions to the anatomical sciences and the future of anatomy education and research by the American Association for Anatomy (AAA), the U.S.-based international society representing 2,300 members in anatomy and anatomy-related disciplines. McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Heather Szabo-Rogers, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Oral Biology, Center for Craniofacial Regeneration, School of Dental Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, recently was awarded funding through the AAA Fellows Grant Award Program (FGAP). Read More

Among US adults with kidney failure, race and social determinants of health were associated with patients’ likelihood of receiving a kidney transplant. The findings come from an analysis that is in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN).  McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Mary Amanda Dew, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology, Epidemiology, Nursing, and Biostatistics at the University of Pittsburgh and also a Professor at the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, is a co-author of the study. Read More

McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Richard Debski, PhD, William Kepler Whiteford Faculty Fellow, Co-Director, Orthopaedic Robotics Laboratory, Professor, University of Pittsburgh Departments of Bioengineering and Orthopaedic Surgery, is a co-author of a study to investigate tibiofemoral bony morphology features associated with ACL injury and sex utilizing three-dimensional statistical shape modeling.  Other co-authors of this work include: Read More

The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) has named 63 of the world’s best emerging academic inventors to its 2021 class of Senior Members.  Three of those honorees are McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty members (pictured top to bottom): Read More

McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member George Michalopoulos, PhD, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh, received NIH funding to study the impact of inhibition of EGF receptor on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This proposal, which is funded for 5 years, will study an important role of EGFR signaling in the pathogenesis of NASH/NAFLD and has high translational impact. Other Pittsburgh Liver Research Center members supporting the study include Ramon Bataller, MD, PhD, and Aatur Singhi, MD, PhD. Read More

McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty members who are also members of the Pittsburgh Liver Research Center (PLRC) recently published several articles.  The authors include: Read More

Why do patients who receive antipsychotic medications to manage schizophrenia and bipolar disorder quicky gain weight and develop prediabetes and hyperinsulemia? The question remained a mystery for decades, but in a paper published in Translational Psychiatry, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine finally cracked the enigma.  Zachary Freyberg, MD, PhD, is senior author on the study and is a McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member. Read More

Carmat, a developer of an artificial heart which offers a bridge to transplant in patients with end-stage biventricular heart failure, recently reported its total artificial heart (TAH) received the European CE mark. The artificial heart provides an alternative for individuals for whom maximal medical therapy and left ventricular assist device are insufficient or contraindicated. It is designed for patients expected to receive a heart transplant within 180 days. Read More

Hitting a pothole on the road in just the wrong way might create a bulge on the tire, a weakened spot that will almost certainly lead to an eventual flat tire. But what if that tire could immediately begin reknitting its rubber, reinforcing the bulge, and preventing it from bursting? Read More

Foot and ankle orthopaedic surgeon, UPMC Vice Chair and Residency Program Director, and McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member MaCalus Hogan, MD, MBA, has been installed as a member-at-large for the Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Foundation Board of Directors. The Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS)® that advances the Society’s mission by funding and promoting education, research, and humanitarian endeavors. Read More

McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Tetsuro “Ted” Sakai, MD, PhD, MHA, FASA, has been invited to serve as an Associate Editor of Clinical Transplantation: The Journal of Clinical and Translational Research. Clinical Transplantation is the official journal of the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons and will become the official journal of the Society for Advancement of Transplant Anesthesia. The journal is considered essential reading for researchers and clinicians in the multidisciplinary field of transplantation and targets readers who manage patients needing or having organ or tissue transplants, including those of the kidney, intestine, liver, pancreas, islets, heart, heart valves, lung, bone marrow, cornea, skin, bone, and cartilage. Read More