Living-donor liver transplant offers numerous advantages over deceased-donor transplant, including better three-year survival rates for patients and lower costs, according to new research from the UPMC Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
Death rates from sepsis fell faster in New York than expected—and faster than in peer states—following the introduction of the nation’s first state-mandated sepsis regulation, according to an analysis led by University of Pittsburgh researchers and published in JAMA. The policy requires all New York hospitals to quickly implement certain protocols when the deadly condition is suspected.
McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Mangesh Kulkarni, PhD, assistant professor of bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, was awarded $17,793 in funding from the Central Research Development Fund (CRDF) to support research for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
The University of Pittsburgh received a $6 million grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation to support the development of a cortical vision research program in the Pitt School of Medicine Department of Ophthalmology. The program will aim to understand how the eye and the brain work together to help us see the world and use that knowledge to develop new ways to restore vision using various technologies such as brain computer interfaces and novel genetic technologies.
The McGowan Institute has formed an alliance with the International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory to develop and demonstrate how microgravity can improve regenerative medicine-based therapies. The ISS provides a unique platform to conduct studies in a microgravity environment.
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine—including McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty members Alejandro Soto-Gutierrez, MD, PhD, associate professor of pathology at Pitt’s School of Medicine and faculty member of the Pittsburgh Liver Research Center, and Ira Fox, MD, professor of surgery and pediatric transplantation at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh—are the first to grow genetically modified miniature human livers in the laboratory, to emulate human liver disease progression and test therapeutics.
The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) has selected Gillian Schriever, distance runner and 2019 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering, as one of the two ACC candidates for 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year. Duke University golfer Virginia Elena Carta also received the ACC’s nomination.
Study: A bioengineering group from the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering is bringing the worlds of computational modeling and experimentation closer together by developing a methodology to help analyze the wealth of imaging data provided by advancements in imaging tools and automated microscopes.
The Wiegand Summer Internship provides an opportunity for a high school senior, who resides in Allegheny County and who graduated in the spring of 2019, to spend 5 weeks learning first-hand about regenerative medicine research and scientific investigations in general.
CATER trainee Alexis Nolfi, doctoral candidate in the lab of McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty member Bryan Brown, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Bioengineering with secondary appointments in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at the University of Pittsburgh, is a member of the research team developing a silicone-hydrogel-based contact lens that has been coated with natural biopolymers containing an immune modifying drug for the treatment of dry eye disease. The project is named CyteSolutions Lens and the project’s video is here.
Garrett Coyan, MD, MS, resident in the Six-Year Integrated Cardiothoracic Surgery Residency Program was awarded the 2019 Resident Academic Leadership Award by a faculty committee in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh based on past academic year achievements evaluated by the committee. This award was announced at the Graduation Event on June 28, 2019, at the Fox Chapel Golf Club. Dr. Coyan’s research in the laboratory of McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine director William Wagner, PhD, Professor of Surgery, Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, is focused on tissue engineered heart valves.
McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty member Fabrisia Ambrosio, PhD, MPT, Director of Rehabilitation for UPMC International and Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at the University of Pittsburgh with secondary appointments in the Departments of Physical Therapy, Bioengineering, Orthopaedic Surgery, and Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, and Carnegie Mellon University’s Philip LeDuc, PhD, William J. Brown Professor of Mechanical Engineering with appointments in Biological Sciences, Computational Biology, and Biomedical Engineering, the Founding Director of the Center for the Mechanics and Engineering of Cellular Systems, and a McGowan Institute affiliated faculty member, are the co-principal investigators on a recently awarded National Institutes of Health R01 grant entitled “Role of Extracellular Matrix in Age-Related Declines of Muscle Regeneration.”
Erica Comber, a PhD student in Carnegie Mellon University’s (CMU’s) Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME), and her colleagues in Carnegie Mellon University’s Bioengineered Organs Initiative, are working to help people with lung disease by making them new ones.
Hepatitis C is a liver disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV), which is carried in the blood of infected people. According to various estimates, anywhere from 3 to 10 million people in the United States are carriers of the virus. One reason for this is because the virus wasn’t even diagnosed until the late 1980s. In fact, a majority of carriers are still unaware of their HCV status.
Self-driving cars rely on their ability to accurately “see” the road ahead and make adjustments based on what they see. They need to, for instance, react to a pedestrian who steps out from between parked cars, or know to not turn down a road that is unexpectedly closed for construction. As such technology becomes more ubiquitous, there’s a growing need for a better, more efficient way for machines to process visual information.
People who receive opioids for the first time while hospitalized have double the risk of continuing to receive opioids for months after discharge compared with their hospitalized peers who are not given opioids, according to research led by scientists at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.
McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Anthony Delitto, PhD, professor and dean of the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of Pittsburgh, was recently appointed as a member of the National Advisory Council for Complementary and Integrative Health.
Liz Szabo of Kaiser Health News recently reported in Time the controversary surrounding the hope vs. hype of stem cell treatments for the relief of arthritic conditions. She notes the benefits of stem cells are hotly debated in the medical community, and federal regulators have warned the public to beware of clinics that peddle unapproved injections as a cure-all. Many doctors and ethicists say they fear the public is being misled about how well stem cells work—and whether the procedures save their money or waste it.
Technology developed in the McGowan Institute Medical Devices Lab under the leadership of William Federspiel, PhD, William Kepler Whiteford Professor of Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering, and Critical Care Medicine, has been incorporated into products for clinical use by ALung, a University of Pittsburgh spinout company. Dr. Federspiel is the Head of the Scientific Advisory Board and co-founder of ALung Technologies, Inc. The ALung devices are now being evaluated in several clinical trials. ALung is the leading provider of low-flow extracorporeal carbon dioxide removal (ECCO2R) technologies for treating patients with acute respiratory failure.
McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Anne Robertson, PhD, William Kepler Whiteford Endowed Professorship of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Professor of Bioengineering, was among a prestigious group of scholars invited to give a keynote lecture at the 6th International Conference on Computational and Mathematical Biomedical Engineering. The conference was hosted by Tohoku University in Sendai City, Japan.
Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, PhD, the J.C. Warner University Professor of Natural Sciences in the Department of Chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and a McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member, along with researchers from CMU’s Mellon College of Science and College of Engineering have developed a semiliquid lithium metal-based anode that represents a new paradigm in battery design. Lithium batteries made using this new electrode type could have a higher capacity and be much safer than typical lithium metal-based batteries that use lithium foil as anode. The semiliquid metal anode could be used to create high capacity batteries for electric vehicles and specialized batteries for use in wearable devices that require flexible batteries, examples of far-reaching impact.
The University of Pittsburgh School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (SHRS) today launched its first-ever online Master of Science in Health Informatics (MSHI) degree program to address the growing need for professionals who can use data to improve the quality of care.
McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine Deputy Director Stephen Badylak, DVM, PhD, MD, a nationally recognized pioneer in stem cell and tissue regeneration, will receive BioMed SA’s 2019 Award for Innovation in Healthcare and Bioscience in San Antonio, Texas, September 19, 2019.
McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Michael Pinsky, MD, Professor of Critical Care Medicine (primary), Bioengineering, Cardiovascular Diseases, Clinical & Translational Science, and Anesthesiology at the University of Pittsburgh, has been elevated to the rank of APS Fellow by the American Physiological Society.
Mastering a new skill – whether a sport, an instrument, or a craft – takes time and training. While it is understood that a healthy brain is capable of learning these new skills, how the brain changes in order to develop new behaviors is a relative mystery. More precise knowledge of this underlying neural circuitry may eventually improve the quality of life for individuals who have suffered brain injury by enabling them to more easily relearn everyday tasks.
Patients with left-sided heart failure who get implanted devices to improve the pumping of their hearts may be more likely to develop heart failure on the opposite side of their hearts if they are pre-treated with off-label selective vasodilator drugs, according to new research published in Circulation: Heart Failure, an American Heart Association journal. McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine Deputy Director Robert Kormos, MD, FAHA, Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh, past director of UPMC’s Artificial Heart Program, and the Brack G. Hattler Chair of Cardiothoracic Transplantation, is a co-author on this study.
McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Tetsuro Sakai, MD, PhD, Professor of Anesthesiology and Professor of the Clinical Translational Science Institute, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Director of Scholarly Development in the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, was selected as president-elect for the Society for the Advancement of Transplant Anesthesia (SATA) for a two-year term (2019-2021).
The 6th Annual McGowan Institute Regenerative Medicine Summer School (June 16-21, 2019) has just concluded with 19 students from universities across the U.S. being introduced to the science, as well as the clinical and commercial potential of regenerative medicine-based therapies through a combination of lectures and hands-on laboratory activities.
With Alex Trebek’s recent announcement that his pancreatic cancer is in remission, many people have wondered if this difficult cancer is now easier to treat. Pancreatic cancer remains a major cancer killer, but advances are happening.
A team of specialists at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital and UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh have performed UPMC’s first in-utero surgery to close an open neural tube defect in a baby months before her birth. McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Stephen Emery, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, & Reproductive Sciences, Maternal Fetal Medicine, and the Director of the Center for Innovative Fetal Intervention at Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC, was a member of the surgical team.
The faster fluid is removed using continuous dialysis from patients with failing kidneys, the higher the likelihood they will die in the next several months, according to a study published today in JAMA Network Open by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers. McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty members Gilles Clermont, MD, and John Kellum, MD, are co-authors of the study.
RoosterBio, a regenerative medicine manufacturing technology leader, announced four winners of the first RoosterBio Human Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cell (hMSCs) Development Grant aimed at facilitating investigators who share the mission of RoosterBio, Inc to accelerate the path to clinical translation for adult cell-based therapeutics.
National Nurses Week is celebrated annually from May 6, also known as National Nurses Day, through May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. This year, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty member Peter Wearden, MD, PhD, congenital cardiothoracic surgeon and Department Chair, Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Department of Cardiovascular Services at the Nemours Children’s Health System, Orlando, Florida, served as a “Nurse For A Day” in Nemours Children’s Hospital Cardiac Intensive Care Unit.
University of Pittsburgh graduate student Stephanie Rigot, DPT, received an F30 Individual Predoctoral NRSA Fellowship from the National Institutes of Health. The award provides funding for students who are matriculated in a combined dual-doctoral degree training program and who intend to pursue careers as physician-scientists or other clinician-scientists.
Two Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) faculty members are changing the way that proteins are made for industry through their startup BioHybrid Solutions. McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, PhD, is the J.C. Warner University Professor of Natural Sciences in the Department of Chemistry, and Alan Russell, PhD, is the Highmark Distinguished Career Professor of Chemical Engineering and former Director of the McGowan Institute.
The Elmezzi Graduate School of Molecular Medicine is part of Northwell Health and functions in partnership with The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. The Elmezzi Graduate School of Molecular Medicine was established in 1994 and is a PhD program for physicians who wish to pursue careers in biomedical research. The program is an individually tailored program with a strong emphasis on translational research.
In a recently published paper, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Universitat de les Illes Balears, and University of South Carolina along with McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Jonathan Rubin, PhD, professor and chairman in the Department of Mathematics and an adjunct with the Department of Computational and Systems Biology at the University of Pittsburgh, shed light on how specific circuits in the brain can simultaneously make decisions and learn from their outcomes.
The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Carnegie Mellon University each have been awarded four-year contracts totaling more than $7.2 million from the U.S. Department of Defense to create an autonomous trauma care system that fits in a backpack and can treat and stabilize soldiers injured in remote locations.
Patients at UPMC Salvator Mundi International Hospital in Italy will soon have increased access to innovative methods of tissue regeneration that could improve healing and outcomes with reconstructive or aesthetic plastic surgery.
A team of polymer chemists and engineers from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) including McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, PhD, the J.C. Warner Professor of Natural Sciences at CMU, has developed a new methodology that can be used to create a class of stretchable polymer composites with enhanced electrical and thermal properties. These materials are promising candidates for use in soft robotics, self-healing electronics and medical devices. The results are published in Nature Nanotechnology.
