McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Neill Turner, PhD, is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. At the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, he specialized in tissue engineering of vascular grafts using endothelial cells. He then did post-graduate work at the UK Centre for Tissue Engineering, University of Manchester, before he became a Research Associate in the Badylak Lab at the McGowan Institute, where he researches regenerative medicine approaches to repair musculoskeletal injuries. Dr. Turner is investigating the role of decellularized extracellular matrix in limb and muscle regeneration. He has extensive experience studying vascular biology, cardiovascular tissue engineering, and the development of decellularized tissues and ECM-based implants.
Dr. Turner recently spoke with Regenerative Medicine Today host John Murphy, McGowan Institute Executive Director, about
- using tissue engineering techniques to promote wound healing in the body and to use tissue engineering to augment current wound dressings
- using extracellular matrix (ECM) to repair muscle loss injuries and provide new treatments for Barrett’s esophagus and esophageal cancer
- exploring ECM nanovesicles as injectable treatments for hard-to-treat diseases (i.e., eye nerve damage, cartilage damage caused by osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis)
Listen to their conversation here.