McGowan Institute?
December 2007 | VOL. 6, NO. 12 | www.McGowan.pitt.edu
Awarding Moments: Faculty Accept Recognition for Programs
Dr. Herberman and PAC3 Award
The Pennsylvania Cancer Control Consortium (PAC3) recently received an Exemplary Implementation Award from C-Change for its efforts to develop and execute the first-ever Pennsylvania Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan (PA CCC Plan) throughout the state. A nationwide collaborative organization, C-Change is comprised of cancer leaders from government, business, and non-profit sectors. C-Change co-chairs, former President George H.W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush, presented the award at the organization’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
“On behalf of the many organizations PAC3 represents, we are honored to be recognized for our collaborative efforts in changing the course of cancer control in Pennsylvania,” said Ronald Herberman, MD, accepting the award. Dr. Herberman is PAC3 president, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and UPMC Cancer Centers, and a McGowan faculty member. “We look forward to continuing to be seen as leaders working together to meet the growing challenge of cancer control.”
PAC3 received the award for its success in forming partnerships with individuals and public, private, and not-for-profit organizations across the state to implement goals and objectives from the PA CCC Plan using evidence-based interventions that can have significant impact on reducing cancer.
Photograph: Pictured are PAC3 Board member Dr. Aaron Bleznak, MD (Lehigh Valley Hospital); Ms. Leslie Best (Chronic Disease Director, PA Department of Health); PAC3 Board Chair Dr. Ronald Myers, PhD (Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University); Former First Lady Barbara Bush; Former President George Bush; PAC3 Executive Director Kathy Stadler; PAC3 President Dr. Ronald Herberman, MD (UPMC Cancer Centers & University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute) –photo courtesy of Pennsylvania Cancer Control Consortium
Dr. Mazariegos Receives Hillman Innovation Development Award
McGowan Institute faculty member, George Mazariegos, MD received one of four Hillman Innovation Development Awards for his application entitled “International Organ Transplantation Tolerance Registry.” The Hillman Innovation Development Award is intended for those with promising ideas, to help them investigate and develop previously unexplored areas of research. It is also a two year funded grant.
Dr. Mazariegos was recognized, in part, because of the direction and potential of his research. It is hoped that with continued support, the Mazariegos application will continue to grow and lead to additional innovations. Dr. Mazariegos is director of Pediatric Transplantation at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, a world recognized leader in transplantation-related research.
OREF Clinical Research Award Goes To Dr. Pape
Hans-Christoph Pape, MD, associate professor of orthopaedic surgery and chief of the division of Orthopaedic Traumatology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC received the 2008 OREF Clinical Research Award which was given by The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Research Development Committee and the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation (OREF). This award, one of four Kappa Delta Awards presented annually, is considered to be the most prestigious award available to Orthopaedic Surgeons and the only one available for clinical research. This award brings a tremendous amount of recognition to Dr. Pape for his groundbreaking research into the management of orthopaedic trauma. Dr. Pape’s paper was “Effects of Changing Strategies of Fracture Fixation on Immunologic Changes and Systemic Complications After Multiple Trauma: Damage Control Orthopaedic Surgery.”
This award brings immediate recognition to Dr. Pape for his outstanding work to date, especially in the area of “damage control orthopaedics,” which has changed the way in which patients with multiple trauma are treated. Dr. Pape’s approach mandates that the organ and system functions of patients be stabilized before surgical repair of orthopaedic injuries is begun.
This announcement brings further recognition to the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, as this is the fourth time in five years a faculty member has received Kappa Delta recognition. Constance Chu, M.D. won the young investigator award in 2007 and Johnny Huard, Ph.D. received this same recognition in 2004. Dr. Paul Robbins received Kappa Delta recognition for basic science research in 2005.
Pitt's Department of Rehabilitation Science & Technology Win Power of Work Award
Under the leadership of Rory Cooper, PhD, McGowan Institute faculty member, the Department of Rehabilitation Science & Technology at the University of Pittsburgh was rewarded with receiving one of four 2007 Power of Work Awards. The 11th annual award, sponsored by the Goodwill Industries of Pittsburgh, honors employers that help people with special needs overcome barriers to employment.
An awards ceremony and Winners' Celebration Reception was held at the Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh. Dr. Cooper accepted the award along with Pitt Rehab Counselor, Greg Traynor. There were over 100 nominees for the award and approximately 300 individuals committed to rehabilitation attended the evening program.
The 2008 McGowan Institute Scientific Retreat is scheduled for March 10, 11, and 12, 2008 at the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort. The program committee is led by Dr. William Wagner. On-line registration will be available after the holiday break, but in the interim, remember to Save the Dates: March 10, 11, and 12, 2008 (note 3 days vs. the traditional 2 day format)!
The program will include distinguished guest speakers, a poster session, and potential external partners and collaborators, so there will be multiple opportunities for networking and collaboration.
The first speaker in the McGowan Institute Distinguished Lecture Series, Douglas Lauffenburger, PhD, spoke on November 29, 2007. His presentation, “What Are Cells Thinking? An Engineering Approach to Understanding Signaling Networks Governing Cell Behavior” was well received, and the event was a great success. Combining the lecture series with the Moleculart Networking Session proved to be beneficial to all, as Dr. Ruben Zamora had the opportunity to display his oil paintings to a healthy representation from the science disciplines on campus. Food and good company were enjoyed by all.
The lecture series will continue in the spring with Karen Hirschi, PhD, of the Baylor College of Medicine scheduled to speak on April 3, 2008. The title of her lecture is “The Study of Vascular Morphogenesis Enables Tissue Engineering.” The format will be the same. The artist scheduled for the Moleculart Networking Session to follow the lecture is Ericka Fink, MD, a photographer.
McGowan Institute faculty member Michael Sacks, PhD, the William Kepler Whiteford Professor, Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, was an invited participant in a recent federal workshop, “In Vitro Analyses of Cell/Scaffold Products.” The workshop was co-sponsored by The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), two partner agencies affiliated with the Multi-Agency Tissue Engineering Science Interagency Working Group of the National Science and Technology Council. Dr. Sacks was invited to the two-day Washington, DC, event because of his tissue engineering research efforts. His presentation, “Novel Methods to Quantify Tissue Structure and Multi-Axial Mechanical Testing,” contributed to the discussion on the current development of mechanical characterization and analyses of cell/scaffold constructs with a focus on structure-function relationships.
The FDA and NIST share an interest in facilitating a critical step in the development of bioengineered medical products. At the time that scientific theories and research initiatives leave the bench, data must be assembled in support of the creation and assembly of a medical product. The necessary documentation to support a clinical study can be one of the most scientifically challenging efforts a sponsor faces during product development.
The FDA is a science-based, regulatory agency that is committed to staying abreast of the latest scientific innovations as well as maintaining a regulatory role in the biomedical device industry. The Agency is continually improving its understanding of new or alternative approaches for the treatment of disease and improvement of human health along with the resulting novel approaches to products.
The NIST is a science-based, non-regulatory agency, with a mission to promote US innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life. They are committed to facilitating the incorporation of advances in measurement science into tissue engineering research, development, and manufacturing.
To further the goals of the FDA and the NIST, the federal workshop explored recent scientific advances to improve understanding of cell/scaffold constructs within the framework of a product under consideration for clinical evaluation. The main objectives of the workshop were to investigate:
- What questions should be asked (and addressed when evaluating cell/scaffold products in preparation for the first human studies);
- What test methods are available and what analytical procedures should be further researched, developed, and/or standardized to determine the safety, purity, potency, and consistency of cell/scaffold products; and
- What emerging measurement and analysis technologies are on the horizon that may be important in the future to improve understanding of mechanism and to predict the response of cell/scaffold products in clinical applications.
Read More: Advancing Tissue Science and Engineering, A Multi-Agency Strategic Plan, June 2007 [PDF]
The McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty member Steven DeKosky, MD, Director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh and chair in the Department of Neurology, suggests along with an international group of 18 other neurologists and researchers, that it’s time to change the criteria for diagnosing Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Today, using MRIs, PET scans, and spinal fluid analysis, doctors are becoming increasingly adept at spotting the illness long before symptoms appear.
The findings of the research group have been published in Lancet Neurology (2007;6:734-746) in a position paper entitled “Research criteria for the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease: revising the NINCDS-ADRDA criteria.” Dr. DeKosky presented the new research as part of a distinguished speaker series that he participated in at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in October. As part of that visit, he also took part in a panel of local experts discussing the future of AD care.
The guidelines suggested in the paper state that someone with early signs of cognitive impairment be considered an AD patient if brain scans or fluid tests have spotted the red flags. Currently, a clinical diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment is not enough to enroll a person into AD treatment studies. Under this revised scenario, Dr. DeKosky says, "We'd say you meet the criteria for Alzheimer's disease. Let's start treating you."
“We’re probably where cardiac docs were in the ‘60s,” DeKosky went on to explain. It is important to note that by the 1970s, cardiac specialists saw a dramatic drop in deaths due to better treatment and prevention of heart disease. With these new AD diagnostic guidelines, a patient could become a candidate for experimental therapies sooner. With an increase in patients, the treatments could be better refined. In today’s treatment scenario, by the time a patient is functioning abnormally, the disease is probably too advanced to treat.
“This disease is capable of breaking Medicare and Medicaid all by itself,” DeKosky said. The national Alzheimer’s Association estimates that in 2002, Medicare and Medicaid together spent more than $50 billion on beneficiaries with the disease, and as more people are diagnosed and baby boomers age, the spending will go up.
Scientists think that up to 4.5 million Americans suffer from AD. The disease usually begins after age 60, and risk goes up with age. While younger people also may get AD, it is much less common. About 5 percent of men and women ages 65 to 74 have AD, and nearly half of those age 85 and older may have the disease. It is important to note, however, that AD is not a normal part of aging. (National Institute on Aging, NIH)
Read more: Fort Worth Business Press
McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty member Patrick Kochanek, MD, is the current director of the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research—part of the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine. An ongoing clinical trial at the Safar Center was highlighted in the Fall 2007 issue of Pitt Med magazine. In the article, “Inside the Blackout,” Dr. Kochanek discusses the past efforts within the Safar Center to deal with pediatric traumatic brain injury and how the earlier work supports research today on the injured brain of a child.
The tools available to treat traumatic brain injury (TBI) are still limited. Doctors try to reduce intracranial pressure with medication and by draining cerebrospinal fluid. If this doesn’t work, neurosurgeons may remove a plate of bone from the skull to allow the brain room to swell. When the swelling decreases, the bone is replaced, perhaps several weeks later.
As part of a new clinical trial, children with TBIs who arrive at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and 11 other hospitals in the country will now have access to an experimental therapy that induces hypothermia. This $14 million, multicenter trial funded by an NIH grant is in part a result of the first experimental example of hypothermia’s benefit in head trauma. That study, done at Safar Center more than 12 years ago, showed that short bursts of hypothermia led to improved outcomes in young animals with head injury.
A child with TBI who is enrolled in the study is randomly assigned to receive either hypothermia or standard care. In those tagged for hypothermia, doctors push cold fluids through their veins. They wrap them in cooling blankets to further lower core temperature and keep it low for two or three days. From there, doctors will lower the body temperature down to 32 to 33 degrees centigrade, which is about 89 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. There is a long history of evidence leading to this promising trial, beginning with old news reports of children falling through ice into lakes and remaining under water for long periods of time—yet recovering completely. By cooling the body of children with traumatic brain injury, it is believed that inflammation of the brain will be reduced and thus prevent the chemical cascade that leads to further cell death and damage when the swollen brain is deprived of blood.
In addition to his appointments at McGowan Institute and the Safar Center, Dr. Kochanek is a professor at the University in the Department of Critical Care Medicine, Pediatrics and Anesthesiology. He is also an associate director in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and the director in Pediatric Critical Care Research at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh,
Read more: Pitt Med (Fall 2007)
On World Diabetes Day, McGowan Institute faculty member Massimo Trucco, MD, University of Pittsburgh Hillman Professor of Pediatric Immunology and Division Director of Immunogenetics at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, provided an update on the use of adult stem cells in the reversal of Type 1 Diabetes. Dr. Trucco also talked about the critical immunologic steps that lead to autoimmunity in Type 1 Diabetes and the use of this information to prevent and possibly cure the disease. Dr. Trucco’s presentation, “Adult Stem Cells and Reversal of Type 1 Diabetes,” was part of a teleconference of the leaders of the Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet, an organization supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International, and the American Diabetes Association.
Dr. Trucco reviewed his trials, which began in July—research that involves injecting patients with their own immune cells after they have been genetically altered to block the destruction of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Such a technique has proven effective in mice. Trucco and his colleagues are eager to test the technique in children—a population at high risk of developing Type 1 diabetes.
Researchers are using the technique on 18-year-olds who are able to give consent to the experiments. Five people have been enrolled so far, and four of them have started to receive the injections. Trucco's goal is to enroll 10 more people in the trial.
"We've had very positive results so far," Dr. Trucco said about the first phase of the trials that are testing the technique's safety. "We have to first prove that this is safe. When we pass that goal, the second step will be to prove its efficacy."
Type 1 Diabetes is increasing every year, reaching epidemic proportions in some countries, with the greatest increase in children under age 5. In response to this phenomenon, diabetes researchers across the globe have been working to advance the study, prevention, and treatment of Type 1 Diabetes. As a result, the way diabetes is detected and treated is dramatically changing. A simple blood test can now identify the autoantibodies for Type 1 Diabetes up to 10 years before diagnosis.
If diabetes can be delayed, even for a few years, those at risk may be able to postpone the difficult challenges of controlling their glucose levels and the development of serious complications. The serious complications of diabetes include heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney damage, and lower-limb amputations.
Read More: Find Law/PRNewswire
McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty member Barry London, MD, PhD and his colleagues have identified a new gene responsible for a rare, inherited form of sudden cardiac arrest, known as Brugada syndrome. With the identification of this new gene, researchers hope that an explanation will be found for the more common forms of sudden death in patients with heart attacks and heart failure. They are also hoping to aid in the development of new, effective therapeutic treatments that will prevent all types of fatal arrhythmias.
A number of collaborators contributed to the paper outlining these findings, published in the November 12 edition of Circulation. (online version of article) Dr. London, who also holds positions as the Harry S. Tack professor of medicine, chief of the division of cardiology in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and director of the UPMC Cardiovascular Institute, is the lead author on the manuscript, with another McGowan faculty member, Dennis McNamara, MD, also contributing.
Brugada syndrome is a rare inherited arrhythmia, which is more commonly symptomatic in males. It can present with an abnormality on the electrocardiogram (ECG), fainting, or sudden death. In about 20 percent of patients with Brugada syndrome, mutations in the heart’s sodium channels lead to less current flow and shorter heart beats in a part of the heart. This puts patients at risk for rapid heart rhythms such as ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation. Symptoms often present with no warning, and the seemingly healthy patient passes out and/or suffers a sudden cardiac arrest from an arrhythmia.
The researchers were able to discover a mutation in a previously unstudied gene, GPD1-L on chromosome 3p24. The mutation impairs the heart’s natural electrical ability to beat in a coordinated manner and maintain a stable rhythm. As Dr. London explained, “We suspect that the function of the native GPD1-L gene and the mutant are influenced by oxidative stress, a process which interferes with the body’s natural ability to repair itself from antioxidant assaults, e.g., pollution, smoking, or stress. Also, although patients with Brugada syndrome only rarely have symptoms, they have this genetic mutation all the time. So, the question now is, why do arrhythmias or sudden death happen on any one particular day? Something else is happening concurrently with this mutation to trigger the potentially lethal rhythm problems.” Dr. London and colleagues hope to identify other new genes along with entirely new pathways that stabilize the rhythm of the heart, increasing the understanding of the mechanisms that lead to sudden death.
Arrhythmias remain a major public health problem leading to more than 250,000 sudden cardiac deaths each year. Brugada syndrome was only identified approximately 15 years ago and much is still not understood about the condition. It is found all over the world, and presently there is no cure. The best therapy to date is to implant a defibrillator into the chests of patients who are clinically found to be at high risk.
Read More: UPMC News Bureau
A $23 million gift from the Richard King Mellon Foundation will help establish the Richard King Mellon Foundation Institute for Pediatric Research. The new Institute will be physically located in research facilities now being constructed on the new campus of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC in Lawrenceville. Its faculty and programs will be a part of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The new Institute is designed to advance and strengthen the field of pediatric research in such areas as diabetes, congenital heart disease, and other illnesses that afflict children.
In his comments, David Perlmutter, MD, McGowan Institute faculty member, the Vira I. Heinz Professor and chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Pitt, and physician-in-chief and scientific director at Children's said: "Our goal in creating this Institute is to further elevate Pittsburgh's position as one of the world's leading centers for pioneering research in the critically important area of children's health. The foundation’s support will enable us to aggressively pursue that goal by building and equipping a new laboratory for research in molecular and cellular biology, by adding to our already deep pool of faculty talent through the recruitment of additional pediatric scientists of international stature, and by supporting the most promising work of those scientists."
The Institute will house the laboratories of an internationally recognized scientific director and five exceptionally talented scholars. It is also hoped that some of the concepts first used by the renowned Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Md can be applied to fund areas of basic science that have had a profound effect on the understanding of human disease.
Start-up and continuous funding will foster high-risk, high-impact projects and encourage the researchers of the Institute to pursue their most innovative ideas. For the scholar positions, the Institute will focus on physician-scientists at early stages in their careers and whose research will have a long-lasting influence on various areas of pediatric medicine.
"We envision this Institute as an incubator for research that challenges conventional wisdom and leads to paradigm shifts in pediatric medicine," said Perlmutter. "In so many ways, this Institute is the offspring of the philosophy that is embedded in every part of this academic medical center and university, together with the extraordinary philanthropic vision of the foundation."
The Regenerative Medicine Podcasts continue to explore pertinent topics. The most recent podcasts are:
#42-SYIS-TERMIS - A discussion with the leadership of the North American Chapter of the Students and Young Investigators Section of the Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine International Society during the 2007 TERMIS North American Meeting in Toronto.
#43-Jennifer Braemar Ogilvie, MD - Dr. Ogilvie visits Regenerative Medicine Today to discuss her current regenerative medicine research interests focusing on the development of tissue-engineered endocrine organs, in particular bioengineered thyroid and adrenal glands.
Visit www.regenerativemedicinetoday.com to keep abreast of the new interviews.
PIs: |
William Wagner, PhD |
Title: |
Cardiopulmonary Organ Engineering |
Description: |
Researchers are currently working to develop tissue constructs that could be utilized to repair congenital heart defects and to recover function lost to myocardial infarction. The general approach involves optimizing the combination of precursor cells with synthetic scaffolds and culturing methods to achieve the functionality required for the given application. The research team working on this project includes cardiothoracic surgeons, bioengineers, polymer chemists, cell biologists and electrophysiologists. |
Source: |
NIH-Bioengineering Research Partnership |
Term: |
Year 5 continuation |
Amount: |
$1.18 million |
Newsletter Comments or Questions: McGowan@pitt.edu