McGowan Institute?
May 2008 | VOL. 7, NO. 5 | www.McGowan.pitt.edu
2008 Carnegie Science Awards Program Features McGowan Faculty
Since the inception of the Carnegie Science Awards in 1997, at least nine McGowan faculty members have been honored with an award. This year was no exception as faculty members Stephen Badylak, DVM, PhD, MD, William Wagner, PhD, and Robert Parker, PhD all took their turn at the podium on May 9, 2008 to accept Carnegie Science Center accolades.
Dr. Badylak received the Advanced Materials Award for his pioneering work with extracellular matrix material, an achievement that has positively affected the lives of at least 1.5 million patients worldwide.
Dr. Wagner won in the Life Sciences category. Among other accomplishments, he was cited for his work with the cardiovascular system, especially procedures that use tissue engineered scaffolds to generate new cardiac tissue or blood vessels.
The University/Post-Secondary Educator award went to McGowan faculty member Dr. Parker, and his team members Mary Besterfield-Sacre, PhD (Industrial Engineering), and Joseph McCarthy PhD (Chemical Engineering). Known as the Pillars Team, this group of educators has created an innovative engineering program to prepare students for the changing global marketplace of today and tomorrow.
The Keynote Address at the awards ceremony was given by Lee Gutkind, a professor in the University of Pittsburgh English Department and an award-winning creative nonfiction writer. Other features of the program were a silent auction and a strolling dinner.
For more information about the Carnegie Science Awards
Steven Little, PhD, a McGowan faculty member, assistant professor, and Bicentennial Alumni Faculty Fellow in chemical engineering, bioengineering, and immunology has been awarded the Beckman Foundation Young Investigator Award for his research on synthetic dendritic cells. This award is intended to provide research support for the most promising young faculty members in the early stages of academic careers in the fields of chemical and life sciences. The Foundation broadly supports non-profit institutions where the invention of methods, instruments and materials open new avenues of research in science.
The focus of Dr. Little’s laboratory is on biomaterial design and synthetic drug delivery systems. Research is ongoing in immuno-prophylactic and immuno-therapeutic formulations that exploit molecular understanding of immune cell interactions. It also supports regenerative medicine strategies that use materials to manipulate cell function through surface interactions and controlled release.
Dr. Little earned his PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also the recipient of an American Heart Association Career Development Award for the period 2006-2009 and a National Institutes of Health K-Award, K12 running from 2007-2011.
Researchers including Dr. Jörg Gerlach of McGowan Institute are featured in the May 19, 2008 issue of Newsweek magazine in an article in the “Health” section that highlights the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM) program. The article is titled “War on Wounds,” subtitled, “Why the military is backing the cool new field of regenerative medicine.”
The story overviews the $85 million in government funding which created AFIRM, and highlights several of the AFIRM projects at the McGowan Institute and our partner, the Wake Forest University.
The skin cell gun invented by Dr. Gerlach—it sprays cells onto burned areas in a fine mist which expedites healing and reduces scaring—is featured prominently along with a photograph of Dr. Gerlach holding the device. Also discussed is a project by Dr. Charles Sfeir of McGowan Institute involving a moldable and biodegradable scaffold material to replace missing bone.
Stories like this and the previous coverage given to Dr. Stephen Badylak’s digit regeneration research are enhancing name recognition to the field of regenerative medicine and making the public aware of the possible new therapeutic approaches that regenerative medicine offers.
Photo credit: Ethan Hill for Newsweek
Read more: Newsweek
The McGowan Institute and our partners, the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC and medical device manufacturer Levitronix® LLC, recently received a $2.3 million National Heart Lung and Blood Institute Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant to complete development of, and to clinically test, the first external centrifugal pump designed specifically for infants and small children in heart failure.
According to McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty member Peter D. Wearden, MD, PhD, a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon and director of Pediatric Mechanical Cardiopulmonary Support at Children’s, it is estimated that as many as 1,000 children annually may benefit from the developed technologies of two new recently awarded research projects. In conjunction with the McGowan Institute, cardiac experts in Children’s Hospital’s Heart Center are involved in developing external and implantable ventricular assist devices (VADs) for the youngest of patients, and this funding boost will bring scientists closer to their goals.
“Unfortunately, because this is a relatively small market, companies that make medical devices historically have not focused their attention on pediatric VADs,” Dr. Wearden said. “Because of this, our options for treating young children in heart failure have been extremely limited. Our hope is that these two projects will lead to the first pediatric devices being approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in the United States.”
Dr. Wearden and his team are currently finalizing tests of a new device in the laboratory and hope to begin a clinical trial in the coming year. The device, known as the PediVAS (ventricular assist system), would be an external pump designed to support pediatric patients in heart failure for up to four weeks.
Dr. Wearden and his colleague Dr. Borovetz are also spearheading efforts to develop the first totally implantable pediatric VAD in the United States that could be used for longer periods of time than the external pump.
In the development of an implantable pediatric VAD known as PediaFlow, the team includes two McGowan faculty members who are pioneers in cardiac support, Harvey S. Borovetz, PhD, deputy director, Artificial Organs and Medical Devices, McGowan Institute, and chair, Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh; and James Antaki, PhD, professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University.
Photo credit: J.C. Schisler/Tribune-Review.
Read more: ABC News (with video link)
The University of Pittsburgh’s Office of Technology Management (OTM) has launched a pilot program in partnership with the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine (MIRM) to provide greater access to a range of comprehensive technology commercialization resources and support. The goal is to make participation in the commercialization process at the University of Pittsburgh easier and more accessible than ever before.
On Monday afternoons, Alex Ducruet, PhD, a Technology Licensing Manager in the OTM, works in the MIRM Bridgeside Point facilities in an effort to provide onsite advice and assistance and to foster even more proactive commercialization activities among researchers.
OTM’s new outreach effort is part of a broader pilot program for the OTM to take its commercialization support services to the doorsteps of academic departments, research centers, and institutes across campus over the next few years.
“Our goal with this program is to create and develop lasting relationships with the faculty, staff, and students in departments, centers, and institutes across campus—in partnership with the leadership in those areas,” says Ducruet of the new program. “We look forward to working more closely with the University’s faculty, staff and students to identify commercial innovation development opportunities from their research and develop effective commercialization strategies for those innovations.”
For more information or to learn how to begin working with the OTM, please contact Alex Ducruet at aducruet@otm.tt.pitt.edu or 412-648-2219, or please visit the OTM web site at http://www.otm.pitt.edu.
McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty member Clifford Brubaker, PhD, along with Captain Chaz Heron, commander of Naval Special Warfare Group TWO, East Coast-based Navy SEALs, and Scott Lephart, PhD, ACT, founding director of the Neuromuscular Research Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s (UPMC) Center for Sports Medicine, recently announced the grand opening of the Pittsburgh-designed Human Performance Research Laboratory for Naval Special Warfare, the first of its kind within the US Navy. The new lab is located at the Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek in Norfolk, Va.
Designed by sports medicine researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC, the new Human Performance Research Laboratory will study injuries and training techniques of the SEALs to optimize their tactical readiness. Researchers aim to reduce the incidence of preventable musculoskeletal injuries during training, combat, and recreation; enhance force readiness by maximizing the effects of training to reduce fatigue and optimize performance; and prolong the operational life as well as the quality of life after service. The lab uniquely combines important advances in sports medicine science with the traditional excellence of the Navy’s most elite warriors.
With a $2.1 million U.S. Department of Defense grant awarded to the University of Pittsburgh research team over 2.5 years, the 2,200-square-foot laboratory employs state-of-the-art biomechanical and physiological instrumentation and techniques currently used for elite athletes.
Naval Special Warfare units are organized, trained, and equipped to conduct special operations in maritime and river-like environments. They are deployed in small units worldwide in support of fleet and national operations. NSW provides an effective means to apply counterforce in conjunction with national policy and objectives in peacetime and across the spectrum of hostilities from peacetime operations to limited war to general war.
Read more: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
In collaboration with Applied Cytometry Systems (ACS), McGowan Faculty members Vera Donnenberg, PhD and Albert Donnenberg, PhD received an honorable mention for their work on software to analyze cancer stem cells at the BIO IT World competition. Their submission was titled “Finding a Needle in a Haystack: Applications of Fast Rare-event Analysis in Flow Cytometry”.
Detecting rare events is akin to finding a needle in a haystack. Until recently, using flow cytometry-based assays for oncological applications, such as detecting tumourigenic stem and progenitor cells, was even harder because of their limited event acquisition speed. Although the newest cytometers can rapidly capture data from millions of cells, analyzing the large files they generate caused bottlenecks. This is now also changing – this article examines the possibilities that are opening up. MORE: BIOForum Europe, May 2008
During National Donate Life Month (April 2008), McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty member George Mazariegos, MD, director of Pediatric Transplantation at the Hillman Center for Pediatric Transplantation at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, reflected on the international effect of the center. Per hospital data, Children’s has achieved some of the nation’s highest patient survival rates among pediatric transplant centers. For example, the 3-year patient survival rate for liver transplantation at Children’s Hospital is 96 percent; the national average is 88 percent. The 3-year patient survival rate for intestine transplantation at Children’s Hospital is 91 percent; the national average is 66 percent. Children’s has performed more than 1,500 pediatric liver and intestine transplants, more than any other pediatric center in the world.
“It’s sometimes hard to fully comprehend the impact that Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh’s transplant surgeons have had over the last 27 years,” said Dr. Mazariegos. “Hundreds of patients with little hope as infants or toddlers are now young adults. Our program has expanded to offer operations for children who need intestinal transplant or multivisceral transplant procedures previously thought to have been impossible.”
Children’s Hospital has a rich history in the field of pediatric transplantation. From the early years when Thomas E. Starzl, MD, PhD, pioneered a new field of medicine, to recent progress in immunosuppressive therapies, these advancements have given hope to thousands of children.
Nationally, nearly 100,000 people are awaiting an organ transplant. Approximately 18 of them, including six children, die each day without receiving a transplant. One organ and tissue donor may help more than 50 people.
Read more: Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC News Release
The Regenerative Medicine Podcasts continue to explore pertinent topics. The most recent podcasts are:
#49-Steve Winowich – Mr. Winowich, Director of Clinical Bioengineering with the Artificial Heart Program at UPMC, reviews the unique partnership between clinical staff and bioengineers in regard to providing mechanical circulatory support to patients prior to a heart transplant.
#50-Kacey Marra, PhD – Dr. Marra is an assistant professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. She is also Lab Director of the Plastic Surgery Research Lab. Dr. Marra’s research focuses on the utilization of adipose-derived stem cells for neuronal tissue engineering applications.Visit www.regenerativemedicinetoday.com to keep abreast of the new interviews.
| Authors: | Yoram Vodovotz, Marie Csete, John Bartels, Steven Chang, Gary An |
| Title: | Translational Systems Biology of Inflammation |
| Summary: | Inflammation is a complex, multi-scale biologic response to stress that is also required for repair and regeneration after injury. Despite the repository of detailed data about the cellular and molecular processes involved in inflammation, including some understanding of its pathophysiology, little progress has been made in treating the severe inflammatory syndrome of sepsis. To address the gap between basic science knowledge and therapy for sepsis, a community of biologists and physicians is using systems biology approaches in hopes of yielding basic insights into the biology of inflammation. |
| Source: | PLoS Computational Biology; April 2008; Volume 4; Issue 4; e1000014 |
| PIs: | Edward Prochownik, MD, PhD and Eric Lagasse, PharmD, PhD |
| Title: | Function of a Glycoprotein lba, a Subunit of the von Willebrand’s Factor Receptor as a Transforming Oncoprotein |
| Description: | Gplb-alpha deregulation and genomic instability in stem cells. The objective of this project is to generate mice with overexpression of Gplb-alpha in hematopoietic stem cells and their progeny. |
| Source: | Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh |
| Term: | 08/01/07-07/01/09 |
| Amount: | $62,575 Annual |
Newsletter Comments or Questions: McGowan@pitt.edu