Pediatric laryngotracheal stenosis (LTS), a narrowing of the airway in children, is a complex medical condition. While it can be something a child is born with or caused by injury, the condition can result in a life-threatening emergency if untreated. Treatment, however, is challenging. Depending on the severity, doctors will use a combination of endoscopic techniques, surgical repair, tracheostomy, or deployment of stents to hold the airway open and enable breathing.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a complex psychiatric disorder brought on by physical and/or psychological trauma. How its symptoms, including anxiety, depression and cognitive disturbances arise remains incompletely understood and unpredictable. Treatments and outcomes could potentially be improved if doctors could better predict who would develop PTSD. Now, researchers using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have found potential brain biomarkers of PTSD in people with traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Carnegie Mellon University’s Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering Professor Adam Feinberg, PhD, along with postdoctoral fellow Dan Shiwarski, PhD, and graduate student Joshua Tashman have created a novel biosensor that reveals the mechanobiological forces that shape organ development. Dr. Feinberg is also an affiliated faculty member of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
As reported by Heather McKenzie from BioSpace, when our backs were against the wall, the biotech/biopharma community came together to create not one, but two COVID-19 vaccines currently approved for emergency use in the U.S. The lessons learned from the global pandemic are expected to translate to existing and emerging therapeutic areas – particularly, oncology; more efficient regulatory-industry relationships; mRNA is a word we will continue to hear a lot about; and home health care is here to stay. These are just a few of the insights Ms. McKenzie discovered when she recently spoke with 12 executives from the biotech/biopharma space.
McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty members MaCalus Hogan, MD, MBA, Vice Chair of Education and Residency Program Director in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Associate Professor in the Departments of Orthopaedic Surgery and Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh, and James Wang, PhD, Albert B. Ferguson, Jr., Chair and Vice Chair of Research for the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Director of the MechanoBiology Laboratory in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, and Professor in the Departments of Bioengineering and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, are co-authors of the paper entitled “Effect of metformin on development of tendinopathy due to mechanical overloading in an animal model” which received recognition from the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS) during its 2020 Annual Meeting.
In a recent issue of the Annals of Surgery, epidemiologists from the University of Pittsburgh published an analysis that could help guide clinicians and policymakers in counseling bariatric surgery patients to improve their quality of life for many years to come. McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Steven Belle, PhD, MScHyg, professor in the Department of Epidemiology and a co-director in the Epidemiology Data Center in the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh, is a co-author on the study.
Duquesne University Department Chair and McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Faina Linkov, PhD, MPH, has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for her contributions to biobehavioral cancer research, global health work, and improving publishing opportunities for scientists in the developing world.
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have combined synthetic biology with a machine-learning algorithm to create human liver organoids with blood- and bile-handling systems. When implanted into mice with failing livers, the lab-grown replacement livers extended life.
