CATER Trainee Drew Bradshaw defended his dissertation, “Inflammation in the Tumor Microenvironment: Experimental Models of Metastatic Melanoma Therapy,” on May 7, 2020. The defense was held virtually via Zoom. Pictured here, Dr. Alan Wells introduces Mr. Bradshaw at his defense. Congratulations on doing a fabulous job!
The world’s leading organization for delivery science and technology has recognized McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty member Steven Little, PhD, with election to its College of Fellows. The Controlled Release Society (CRS) elevated Dr. Little, the William Kepler Whiteford Endowed Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering, for outstanding and sustained contributions to the field of delivery science and technology over a minimum of ten years.
In Pennsylvania and other U.S. states, one of the keys to safely reopening society amid the COVID-19 pandemic is providing sufficient testing so that new cases of the disease do not overwhelm the public healthcare system. University of Pittsburgh professors—led by McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Wei Gao, PhD—are reimagining testing using a device that nearly every American owns — a smartphone.
McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Jenny Yu, MD, is the Vice Chair of Clinical Operations for the Department of Ophthalmology, UPMC Eye Center. Dr. Yu also serves on the Orbital, Oculoplastic, and Aesthetic Surgery Service, and is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology at the University of Pittsburgh.
When a person contracts a respiratory viral infection like COVID-19 or influenza, the immune system responds in a myriad of ways to eliminate the virus. Respiratory viral infections are so dangerous, however, because excessive immune responses may cause extreme lung inflammation. However, new modeling research may help doctors better predict and treat patients who are most at risk to that extreme response.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine are developing a new, low-cost ventilator they say will address the ventilator shortage, both now and in the future, that has been made evident by the COVID-19 pandemic. The team includes McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Keith Cook, PhD, a CMU professor of biomedical engineering. Dr. Cook, of CMU’s Biomedical Engineering Department, has expertise in advanced respiratory support, including the design and development of artificial lungs, liquid ventilation hardware and techniques, and animal models of lung disease.
McGowan Institute of Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Ivet Bahar, PhD, is among the exceptional scientists elected this year to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). NAS membership is a widely accepted mark of excellence in science and is considered one of the highest honors that a scientist can receive.
McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Thomas Rando, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, is among the 276 scientists, scholars, artists and leaders elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020.
Using electrodes smaller than a human hair, researchers are able to connect mind to machine and interact with the human brain in revolutionary ways. Brain-computer interfaces have helped rehabilitate neurodegenerative diseases and restore function to individuals with brain damage. This cutting-edge technology, however, comes with complications.
According to a new study by researchers at the Stanford School of Medicine, a nightly jaunt on the exercise wheel enhances muscle-repair capabilities in old mice. Only older mice saw this benefit, which the researchers found is due to the rejuvenation of the animals’ muscle stem cells.
Jordyn Ting, a bioengineering graduate student, works in the Rehab Neural Engineering Labs with McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Douglas Weber, PhD, where her work focuses on investigating the spared connection between the motor cortex and muscles. Ms. Ting is one of twelve University of Pittsburgh students who were awarded a 2020 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. This is the highest number of students to receive this competitive award since 2015 when the University had a total of 13 recipients. An additional sixteen Pitt students also earned an honorable mention.
Amrita Sahu, PhD, is the recipient of this year’s Delta Omega Dissertation Award. This award is presented by the Omicron Chapter of Delta Omega, the National Honors Society in Public Health.
The McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine applauds its affiliated faculty members who were recently recognized by Pittsburgh Magazine. This year’s list was excerpted from The Best Doctors in America 2019-2020 database, which includes close to 40,000 U.S. doctors in more than 450 medical specialty/subspecialty combinations. The Best Doctors in America database is compiled and maintained by Best Doctors, Inc.
McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member and Duquesne University Associate Professor of Pharmaceutics Jelena Janjic, PhD, is working with a multidisciplinary team of researchers to explore the use of nanomedicine in organ transplantation and regenerative surgery.
Led by Shandong Wu, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Radiology at Pitt, and supported by McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine David Vorp, PhD, associate dean for research and John A. Swanson Professor of Bioengineering, the “Pittsburgh Center for Artificial Intelligence Innovation in Medical Imaging” project won a University of Pittsburgh Scaling Grant. The Scaling Grant provide $400,000 over two years to support detailed project planning, gathering proof-of-concept results, and reduction of technical risk for teams pursuing an identified large extramural funding opportunity. The Scaling Grants are part of the University’s Pitt Momentum Funds, which offer funding across multiple stages of large, ambitious projects.
The twisting and bending capabilities of the human muscle system enable a varied and dynamic range of motion, from walking and running to reaching and grasping. Replicating something as seemingly simple as waving a hand in a robot, however, requires a complex series of motors, pumps, actuators and algorithms. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and Harvard University have recently designed a polymer known as a liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) that can be “programmed” to both twist and bend in the presence of light.
A multidisciplinary team of researchers and clinicians, including McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty member Peter Rubin, MD, FACS, Chair of the Department of Plastic Surgery, the UPMC Endowed Professor of Plastic Surgery, Director of UPMC Wound Healing Services, and Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh, is working on a low-cost negative pressure hood that can be used to protect medical staff during intubations and other situations where aerosol spray is likely from infected patients. Moreover, it can also help prevent spread in environments without a negative pressure room, such as the Emergency Department of a hospital. This apparatus is different and far advanced compared with static protection boxes which are only passive shields. What makes this new hood most remarkable is its active airflow and HEPA filtering.
A device designed at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine could help improve outcomes as a treatment for COVID-19 when used in conjunction with non-invasive or mechanical ventilation, and it recently received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Health records from a New York study showed that close to 90 percent of patients who were placed on mechanical ventilation did not survive. Some intensive care units are now considering mechanical ventilation as a last resort because of the complications and side effects associated with the process, and researchers believe this device could help.
The Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) at the University of Pittsburgh has awarded $900,000 to 17 research projects to address different aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty members Alan Wells, MD, DMSc, and Louis Falo, MD, PhD, will serve as co-principal investigators on two of the funded projects. Their projects and funding are:
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has awarded the Hillman Center for Pediatric Transplantation at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh with one of the first six grants from the COVID-19 Telehealth Program Fund — and the first to a children’s hospital.
Under the direction of McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty member William Federspiel, PhD, the William Kepler Whiteford Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh, the Institute’s Medical Devices Laboratory is developing clinically significant devices for the treatment of pulmonary and other cardiovascular ailments by utilizing the engineering principles of fluid flow and mass transfer.
The potential benefits of stem cell therapy have been widely discussed for decades. Potential benefits include reduction of the pain of arthritis and help patients heal faster after surgery. But stem cell therapies can be prohibitively expensive. At the projected costs, these potential life-changing treatments would be far out of range of the vast majority of those who need them. But thanks to Carnegie Mellon University’s Kris Dahl, PhD, professor of chemical engineering, and Veronica Hinman, PhD, head of CMU’s Department of Biological Sciences, stem cell therapy could get a lot less expensive. And the key to this approach lies in the incredible regenerative powers of starfish.
NeuBase Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company developing next-generation antisense oligonucleotide (“ASO”) therapies to address genetic diseases, recently announced positive preclinical data from its pharmacokinetics studies in non-human primates (“NHPs”) and in vitro pharmacodynamics data in patient-derived cell lines. NeuBase believes these data validate the key advantages of the proprietary NeuBase peptide-nucleic acid (“PNA”) antisense oligonucleotide (PATrOL™) platform and support the Company’s decision to advance the development of its Huntington’s disease (“HD”) and myotonic dystrophy type 1 (“DM1”) programs, as well as the potential expansion of its therapeutic pipeline into other indications.
Launched recently at UPMC is a novel clinical trial developed by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine to address one of the most important debates during the COVID-19 pandemic: How should doctors decide between quickly adopting new therapies, such as the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, and waiting until they are tested in longer clinical trials?
Old human cells return to a more youthful and vigorous state after being induced to briefly express a panel of proteins involved in embryonic development, according to a new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Study co-author Thomas Rando, MD, PhD, professor of neurology and neurological sciences and the director of Stanford’s Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging, is an affiliated faculty member of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) has announced the induction of these McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty members to its College of Fellows:
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists announced a potential vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus causing the COVID-19 pandemic. When tested in mice, the vaccine, delivered through a fingertip-sized patch, produces antibodies specific to SARS-CoV-2 at quantities thought to be sufficient for neutralizing the virus.
As reported by David Templeton for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, UPMC researchers are close to completing a blood test to determine immunity against the virus that causes COVID-19. Such a test could certify little or no risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and identify the so-called “super” people who could serve in the health-care battle against COIVD-19 with little risk to themselves.
Approximately one in every 125 babies in the U.S. is born with a congenital heart defect (CHD), making it the country’s most common birth defect. Heart valves developed for adults have been used on infants to treat CHDs, but the large devices sometimes require open heart surgery, presenting a severe risk to infants and young children. Additionally, infants and children grow quickly, but the artificial valve does not, resulting in repeated surgeries that increase risks.
Inspired by a tactic cancer cells use to evade the immune system, University of Pittsburgh researchers have engineered tiny particles that can trick the body into accepting transplanted tissue as its own. McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty members involved in the research team include:
University of Pittsburgh graduate student Madeline Cramer received an F31 award from the National Institutes of Health for her regenerative medicine research that may help improve outcomes in cardiac disease. Ms. Cramer studies bioengineering in the Swanson School of Engineering and works in the lab of McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine deputy director Stephen Badylak, DVM, PhD, MD, professor of surgery at Pitt.
CATER students participated in many events at the annual McGowan Institute Scientific Retreat, which was held at Oglebay Resort in Wheeling, West Virginia earlier this month. Here are some highlights from the two day event:
Pairing chemotherapy nanodrugs with a nutritional supplement can lessen devastating side-effects while reducing the amount of the expensive drugs needed to treat cancer according to a study from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and Taiwan’s National Health Research Institutes (NHRI). In addition, pretreatment with the supplement promotes the production of tumor-killing macrophages, making it a promising complement and supplement to existing chemotherapies.
The McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine held its 2020 Scientific Retreat March 9-10, 2020. The focus was on peer-to-peer networking, and the retreat provided many opportunities to explore collaborative endeavors with other researchers, participating guests, and external partners who are working to bring regenerative medicine technologies to clinical use.
Elaine Vitone, PittMed, recently visited with McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Ian Sigal, PhD, Assistant Professor and the founding Director of the Laboratory of Ocular Biomechanics in the University of Pittsburgh Department of Ophthalmology. There she learned about Dr. Sigal’s work and shared her experience in her article (with video), “The Forest, the Trees, and the Leaves.”
The paper published by Steven Abramowitch, Associate Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh, and McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Pamela Moalli, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, Division of Urogynecology & Pelvic Reconstructive Surgery, Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC, University of Pittsburgh, was recently recognized by the editors of the Journal of Biomechanical ok work. The article details complications associated with mechanical loads on synthetic mesh used in pelvic organ prolapse and will be listed as an Editors’ Choice paper in JBME’s Annual Special Issue February 2020.
Auto-brewery syndrome is a rare medical condition in which intoxicating quantities of ethanol are produced by specific types of yeast or bacteria through endogenous fermentation in the digestive system. McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Kenichi Tamama, MD, PhD, FCAP, Associate Professor of Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Director of the Toxicology Laboratory, and colleagues have reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine the first known case of a woman who urinates alcohol after a never-before-seen condition effectively turned her bladder into a microbrewery.
A multi-institution research team led by the University of Pittsburgh secured a $22 million grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop a device combining artificial intelligence, bioelectronics and regenerative medicine to regrow muscle tissue, especially after combat injuries.
The Carnegie Science Center established the Carnegie Science Awards program in 1997 to recognize and promote outstanding science and technology achievements in western Pennsylvania.
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