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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.

The participation and contributions of the guests and external collaborators – along with McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty and trainees – provided for insightful discussions and identification of opportunities for partnerships.  This year’s program committee (listed below) designed an exciting program:

  • Julie Phillippi, PhD (Chair) – University of Pittsburgh
  • Bryan Brown, PhD – University of Pittsburgh
  • Patrick Cantini – University of Pittsburgh/McGowan Institute
  • Andy Duncan, PhD – University of Pittsburgh
  • Don Taylor, PhD – University of Pittsburgh/PittSciVelo
  • Rosalyn Abbott, PhD– Carnegie Mellon University
  • Abigail Allen (trainee member) – University of Pittsburgh
  • Piyumi Wijesekara Kankanange (trainee member) – Carnegie Mellon University

Program Highlights

The Director’s Welcome and State of the Institute Address was presented by McGowan Institute Director William Wagner, PhD, Professor of Surgery, Bioengineering, and Chemical Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh.  Dr. Wagner also introduced Paula K. Davis, MA, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences Diversity, Schools of Health Sciences, University of Pittsburgh.  Ms. Davis discussed the importance of diversity in interdisciplinary biomedical research.

The Retreat included numerous general sessions throughout the 2-day event with a focus on these research and/or strategic planning and educational areas:

  • Grand Challenges in Regenerative Medicine
  • Synthetic Biology and Regenerative Medicine
  • Translating Early Stage University Research into the Healthcare Marketplace
  • Regenerative Tissue Therapies and Cancer Risk/Progression
  • Pulmonary Injury Repair, Regeneration and Transplantation
  • Regenerative Medicine Technology Pitch Competition (co-sponsored by sciVelo and McGowan Institute)
  • Fireside Chat with Local Entrepreneurs
  • Commercialization Office Scheduled Consultations
  • Invention Disclosure Sprints
  • Student Poster Teasers and Poster Presentations
  • Trainee Workshop

mid page pixAll attendees were invited to view the screening of Burden of Genius, a film on the life and career of Dr. Thomas Starzl, the father of transplantation. Carl Kurlander, Documentarian and Filmmaker, Visiting Distinguished Senior Lecturer, Faculty Adviser, Pitt In Hollywood, University of Pittsburgh, provided opening remarks on the making of the film.

The Retreat program also included 21 presentations addressing a great cross-section of scientific topics given by McGowan Institute affiliated faculty and 17 invited researchers from other institutions and agencies who are not formally affiliated with the McGowan Institute (in alphabetical order):

  • Seth Boudreaux, PhD, Senior Manager, Business Development and Licensing Center for Technology Transfer and Enterprise Creation, Carnegie Mellon University:  Technology Pitch Competition judge and Commercialization Office Advisor
  • Andrew Brown, PhD, Assistant Director, Commercial Translation Programs, sciVelo; Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Periodontics and Preventative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine: Commercialization Office session organizer and chair and Fireside Chat with Local Entrepreneurs panelist
  • Marta Bueno, PhD, Research Assistant Professor of Medicine, Aging Institute & Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, University of Pittsburgh:  “Mitochondrial dysfunction in aging and pulmonary fibrosis”
  • David Chi, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Otolaryngology, Clinical Director, Division of Pediatric Otolaryngology, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC: A Patient Story of McGowan/CHP Partnership and New Pediatric Initiatives with the Sutton Family
  • Erica Comber, Doctoral Student, Laboratory of Keith Cook, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University:  “De novo lung biofabrication”
  • Evan Delgado, PhD, Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh:  Poster Teaser Presentations co-organizer and co-chair
  • Alex Ducruet, PhD, CLP Director, Licensing and Intellectual Property, Innovation Institute, University of Pittsburgh:   Commercialization Office Advisor and Fireside Chat with Local Entrepreneurs panelist
  • Asim Ejaz, PhD, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Plastic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine: “Adipose derived stem cells: From bench to bedside”
  • Ronald Fortunato, BS, PhD Student, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Pittsburgh, Poster #22: “Effect of macro-calcification on the failure mechanics of intracranial aneurysmal wall tissue”
  • Ron Jankowski, PhD, Vice President of Scientific Affairs, Cook MyoSite: Academic vs. Industry Career Paths panel member
  • Anna Kalmykov, MS, PhD Student, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Poster #59: “Organ-on-e-chip: Three-dimensional self-rolled biosensor array for electrical interrogations of electrogenic spheroids”
  • Samira Kiani, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Pathology, Division of Experimental Pathology, School of Medicine, Pittsburgh Liver Research Center, University of Pittsburgh:  “Synthetic control of gene regulatory networks by CRISPR: The roadmap to human translation”
  • Farzaneh Moghadam, BS, PhD Student, Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh, Poster #11:  “CRISPR-based transcriptional repression to reform immunomodulation in vivo”
  • Scott Morley, MBA, Coulter Program Director and EIR Innovation Institute, University of Pittsburgh:  Translating Early Stage University Research into the Healthcare Marketplace session co-organizer and Commercialization Office session organizer
  • Kentaro Noda, PhD, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery,  University of Pittsburgh Medical Center: “Donor lung preservation and transplantation”
  • Alexis Nolfi, BS, PhD Student, Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Poster #37:  “Contact lens delivery of interleukin-4 for treatment of dry eye disease promotes antiinflammatory macrophage populations”
  • Ngoc Pham, BS, PhD Student, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Duquesne University, Poster #39:  “Hydrogel-enabled intratumoral co-delivery of anti-PD-1 antibody and adenosine deaminase in a mouse model of renal cell carcinoma”
  • Sunder Sims-Lucas, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC:  “Uncovering kidney injury modulators to design therapeutics”
  • Elaine Soohoo, PhD, Biomedical Engineer, Division of Circulatory Support, Structural and Vascular Devices, Office of Cardiovascular Devices, U.S. Food and Drug Administration:  Academic vs. Industry Career Paths panel member
  • Dennis P. Swanson, MS, Assistant Dean for Special Projects, Professor, Pharmacy and Therapeutics, University of Pittsburgh:  Commercialization Office Advisor
  • Elizabeth Wayne, PhD, Assistant Professor, Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University: Academic vs. Industry Career Paths panel member
  • Huaiying Zhang, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University:  “Optogenetic control of telomere clustering by protein phase separation in ALT cancer”
  • Daniel Zuppo, BS, PhD Student, Department of Developmental Biology, University of Pittsburgh, Poster #19: “foxm1 is required for cardiomyocyte proliferation after zebrafish cardiac injury”

Poster Session

The poster session was effective in introducing the focus of the Retreat and interests of the faculty and the guests.  McGowan Institute faculty member Andrew Duncan, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology, Division of Experimental Pathology, University of Pittsburgh, and his committee organized the session and judged the posters. Thanks to sciVelo for sponsoring the poster session. The winners of the poster session were:

Cell and Gene Therapy

First Place
Meghan Mooring
Hepatocyte Stress Increases Expression of YAP and TAZ in Hepatocytes to Promote Parenchymal Inflammation and Fibrosis
Mentor: Dean Yimlamai, MD, PhD
Dept. of Pediatrics
University of Pittsburgh

Second Place
Farzaneh Moghadam
CRISPR-based transcriptional repression to perform immunomodulation in vivo
Mentor: Samira Kiani, MD
Dept. of Pathology
University of Pittsburgh

Third Place
Christopher Reyes
Regulation of Smooth Muscle Cell Proliferation and Function by Mitofusin-1
Mentor: Sruti Shiva, PhD
Dept. of Bioengineering
University of Pittsburgh

Computation and Modeling

First Place
George Gabriel
Brain Abnormalities and Neurobehavioral Deficits in a Mouse Model of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome
Mentor: Cecilia Lo, PhD
Dept. of Developmental Biology
University of Pittsburgh

Second Place
Lu Liu
Sustained Analgesic and Anti-inflammatory Efficacy of a Single Dose COX-2 Inhibiting Nanomedicine in a Mouse CFA-induced Inflammatory Model
Mentor: Jelena Janjic, PhD
Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Duquesne University

Third Place
Sommer Anjum
Mechanics of passive cell rearrangement during epithelial convergent extension: understanding experimental observations through theory
Mentor: Lance Davidson, PhD
Dept. of Bioengineering
University of Pittsburgh

Medical Devices

First Place
Tyler Meder
Assessment of a Peripheral Nerve Extracellular Matrix Derived Hydrogel for Improving Functional Recovery Following Nerve Reconstruction
Mentor: Bryan Brown PhD
Dept. of Bioengineering, McGowan Institute
University of Pittsburgh

Second Place
Alexis Nolfi
Contact Lens Delivery of Interleukin-4 for Treatment of Dry Eye Disease Promotes Anti-inflammatory Macrophage Populations
Mentor: Bryan Brown PhD
Dept. of Bioengineering, McGowan Institute
University of Pittsburgh

Third Place
Daniel San Roman
Functionalized Out-of-Plane Graphene Microelectrode Arrays for Sensitive Biomolecule Sensing
Mentor: Tzahi Cohen-Karni, PhD
Dept. of Material Science
Carnegie Mellon University

Tissue Engineering

First Place
Anna Kalmykov
Organ-on-e-chip: three-dimensional self-rolled biosensor array for electrical interrogations of electrogenic spheroids
Mentor: Tzahi Cohen-Karni, PhD
Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University

Second Place
Yoojin Lee
Matrix-bound Nanovesicles as a Source of Lysyl Oxidase
Mentor: Stephen Badylak, MD, PhD, DVM
Dept. of Bioengineering, McGowan Institute
University of Pittsburgh

Third Place
Zhong (Alan) Li
A Multi-tissue Chip for the Modeling of Osteoarthritis Pain
Mentor: Rocky Tuan, PhD
Dept. of Orthopaedic Surgery
University of Pittsburgh

People’s Choice

Farzaneh Moghadam
CRISPR-based transcriptional repression to perform immunomodulation in vivo
Mentor: Samira Kiani, MD
Dept. of Pathology
University of Pittsburgh

Poster Awards sponsored by sciVelo.

First place: $200 (each category)
Second place: $125
Third place: $75

CATER Awards

First Place
Meghan Mooring
Hepatocyte Stress Increases Expression of YAP and TAZ in Hepatocytes to Promote Parenchymal Inflammation and Fibrosis
Mentor: Dean Yimlamai, MD, PhD
Dept. of Pediatrics
University of Pittsburgh

Second Place
George Gabriel
Brain Abnormalities and Neurobehavioral Deficits in a Mouse Model of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome
Mentor: Cecilia Lo, PhD
Dept. of Developmental Biology
University of Pittsburgh

Third Place
Laura Molina
Novel Model of Bile Duct Paucity Demonstrates the Critical Role of Yap1 in Biliary Morphogenesis in Development and Regeneration
Mentor: Paul Monga, MD
Dept. of Pathology
University of Pittsburgh

CATER Awards sponsored by McGowan Institute.

First place: $200
Second place: $125
Third place: $75

A special thank you is extended to all who made this year’s Retreat a success!

See the full Retreat Program here.

Photos Credit: McGowan Institute