McGowan Institute?
August 2005 | VOL. 8 | www.McGowan.pitt.edu
Based on your requests for more and different types of networking sessions, we are pleased to introduce the moleculart project that will be held on September 14th from 5 to 7 PM in Room S-100, BST.
The Artists are: Veronica Garcia, wife of Alejandro Nieponice and Makiko Sakamoto (Vorp Lab).
Our goal is to have a scientific gathering that fosters networking in a different environment.
If you intend to participate in the McGowan Institute networking session “moleculart” on September 14th (5 to 7 PM), please RSVP to Katy Wharton via email[whartonkm@upmc.edu] before September 10th.
Don’t miss it! Wine and cheese will be served and you can win an original piece of art.
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) has been granted approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct a clinical trial to determine the safety and feasibility of injecting a patient’s own bone marrow-derived stem cells directly into the heart during conventional heart bypass surgery.
The trial will involve patients with ischemic heart disease who are scheduled for off-pump (beating heart) coronary artery bypass grafting surgery. In addition to assessing the safety and feasibility of using a patient’s own stem cells as a potential therapy for heart disease, researchers also will be trying to determine just how many stem cells are needed to produce the best results.
This study marks second UPMC stem cell trial approved by FDA. In May, UPMC was given clearance by the FDA to conduct a similar trial in patients needing heart assist devices as a bridge to organ transplantation. Both studies are being directed by Amit Patel, M.D., M.S., Director of the Center for Cardiac Cell Therapy at UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh McGowan Institute.
The aim of stem cell therapy is to repopulate the ailing heart muscle with cells that may help restore blood supply and help the heart regain its ability to contract more effectively and efficiently. Various studies that have been conducted around the world, including a limited number performed in the United States, have suggested that when patients with heart failure receive stem cells taken from their bone marrow, their hearts show signs of improved function and recovery. For More Information CLICK HERE
For More Background Information:
- Patients' Own Stem Cells Build New Blood Vessels
- Novel Stem Cell Trial in Heart Failure Patients to Begin
In the August 5, 2005 edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Byron Spice highlights the recent findings by Dr. Stephen Strom and colleagues that one type of cell in the human placenta has characteristics that are strikingly similar to embryonic stem cells in their ability to regenerate a wide variety of tissues.
The cells, called amniotic epithelial cells, potentially could be used to produce new liver cells to treat liver failure, or new pancreatic islet cells to cure diabetes or new neurons to treat Parkinson's disease.
Unlike embryonic stem cells, which are obtained only by destroying human embryos, these cells can be extracted from the same placentas that now are routinely discarded after birth. They thus could be a non-controversial alternative to embryonic stem cells.
Dr. Stephen Strom, an Associate Professor of Pathology and Faculty Member of the McGowan Institute is the lead author on this study. One of his co-authors, Donna B. Stoltz, PhD is also a McGowan Institute faculty member.
The paper is published online Stem Cells Express and will appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Stem Cells.
This research has been highlighted in the following publications:
- “Pitt's Discovery-A Promising New Route Toward Cell Treatment”; Pittsburgh Post Gazette; August 9, 2005
- “Option to Stem Cells Found”; Pittsburgh Post Gazette; August 5, 2005
- “Potential Stem Cell Source Found in Placentas”; MSNBC.com
- “Breakthrough in Stem Cell Research”; The Scotsman; August 6, 2005
- “Flexible Stem Cells Found in Placenta”; ABC News Online; August 7, 2005
- “U.S. Scientists Discover Stem Cell Replacer in Discarded Placentas”; People's Daily Online; August 6, 2005
-
“U.S. Scientists Find Flexible Stem Cells in Placenta”; Reuters; August 5, 2005
- “Flexible Stem Cells Found in Placentas”; Independent News & Media (South Africa); August 5, 2005
- “Stem Cell Replacer Discovered in Discarded Placentas”; China Viwe; August 6, 2005
Under the leadership of Dr. Xiao Xiao, associate professor of orthopaedic surgery and molecular genetics and biochemistry, and a McGowan Institute faculty member, University of Pittsburgh researchers report on the first study to achieve success with gene therapy for the treatment of congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD) in mice, demonstrating that the formidable scientific challenges that have cast doubt on gene therapy ever being feasible for children with muscular dystrophy can be overcome. Moreover, their results, published in this week’s online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), indicate that a single treatment can have expansive reach to muscles throughout the body and significantly increase survival.
CMD is a group of some 20 inherited muscular dystrophies characterized by progressive and severe muscle wasting and weakness first noticed soon after birth. No effective treatments exist and children usually die quite young.
Despite gene therapy being among the most vigorously studied approaches for muscular dystrophy, it has been beset with uniquely difficult hurdles. The genes to replace those that are defective in CMD are larger than most, so it has not been possible to apply the same methods successfully used for delivering other types of genes. And because CMD affects all muscles, an organ that accounts for 40 percent of body weight, gene therapy can only have real therapeutic benefit if it is able to reverse genetic defects in every cell of the body’s 600 muscle groups.
By using a miniature gene, similar in function to the one defective in CMD, and applying a newly developed method for “systemic” gene delivery, the Pitt researchers have shown that gene therapy for muscular dystrophy is both feasible and effective in a mouse model of especially profound disease. Using this approach, the team, led by Dr. Xiao report that treated mice had physiological improvements in the muscles of the heart, diaphragm, abdomen and legs; and they grew faster, were physically more active and lived four times as long as untreated animals.
The research team is enthusiastic about the results, but note that much work needs to be done before this technique can be used clinically.
FACULTY RECOGNITION
The University of Pittsburgh has named Anna C. Balazs a Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering in the University’s School of Engineering.
Dr. Balazs received the title of distinguished professor for her “extraordinary levels of achievement” within her field. Balazs’ research focuses on theoretical and computer modeling of the thermodynamic and kinetic behavior of polymer blends and composites. She also investigates the properties of polymers at surfaces and interfaces.
Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg made the appointment on the recommendations of Gerald D. Holder, dean of the School of Engineering, and Pitt Provost James V. Maher. “The School of Engineering has a long and proud history of high achievement,” said Nordenberg. “Professor Balazs and her colleagues have added to that legacy and to the University’s reputation for research excellence by synthetically engineering a process that is enormously difficult. Her pioneering work builds upon and advances previous research in the field and is the basis for important and widespread application.”
In addition to distinguished professor, Balazs is also a Robert Von der Luft Professor and a researcher in the University’s McGowan Institute and Institute of NanoScience and Engineering. Balazs is also a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Center for Advanced Materials and Composites and the Materials Science Department of Oxford University in England.
Among her many awards are the Chancellor’s Distinguished Research Award from Pitt and the National Science Foundation’s Special Creativity Award. A fellow of the American Physical Society, Balazs has served in a number of leadership positions, been actively involved in international conference organizations, and served on many advisory and editorial boards. She also consults for such firms as Dow Corning and Dow Chemical Company.
Congratulations Rob Svitek, who was awarded one of the three ASAIO Paul Malchesky Student Abstract Fellowship awards for his work presented at the ASAIO 51st Annual Conference in Washington, DC. His presentation was entitled "The Effect of Bundle Porosity on the Performance of a Pumping Paracorporeal Assist Lung Using a Rotating Fiber Bundle". Rob is a ChE PhD student working in the Medical Devices Laboratory at the McGowan Institute.
John Pacella, M.D. graduate from the School of Medicine (1998) is a recipient of two Postdoctoral Fellowship Awards from American Heart Association for studies "The Effect of Drag-Reducing Polymers on Myocardial Perfusion in Acute Coronary Syndromes" in 2002, and "Drag-Reduction by Polymer Infusion: A Novel Approach for the Treatment of Coronary Artery Disease".
His advisors for this work were Drs. Villanueva and Kameneva. Dr. Villanueva is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the UPMC Cardiovascular Institute and a faculty member of the McGowan Institute. Dr. Kameneva is a Research Associate Professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh as well as Director of the Artificial Blood Program at the McGowan Institute.