The McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine held its 2009 Retreat March 9-11, 2009. The focus was on peer-to-peer networking, and the forum provided many chances to explore collaborative opportunities with other researchers and participating industrial partners who are working to bring regenerative medicine technologies to clinical use.
The participation and contributions of the commercial leaders - along with McGowan Institute faculty and trainees - provided for insightful discussions and identification of opportunities for collaboration. In addition to the welcome address, “The McGowan Institute: Past, Present, and Future,” from Alan Russell, PhD, Director, McGowan Institute, the retreat program included special presentations by the following guests:
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Jeffrey A. Hubbell, PhD, Regenerative Medicine and Pharmacobiology Laboratory, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland: “Biofunctional Materials in Regenerative Medicine and Immunotherapeutics”
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John P. Murtha, U. S. Representative, State of Pennsylvania (via letter)
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Jake Wheatley, Pennsylvania House of Representatives: “The New Bioscience Corridor in Pittsburgh”
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Rev. Dr. Gary Wilburn, ALS Patient (via video teleconference from Baja, California)
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Arthur S. Levine, MD, Senior Vice Chancellor for the Health Sciences and Dean of the School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh
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Joan Lakoski, PhD, Assistant Vice Chancellor, Office of Academic Career Development, University of Pittsburgh: “Exploring Training Opportunities for Young Scientists, and an Introduction to the Resources Provided by the Office of Academic Career Development”
The Retreat program also included a great collection of scientific presentations given by these invited researchers from other institutions and agencies (in alphabetical order):
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Carl Basamania, MD, The Polyclinic, Seattle, WA: “Orthopedic Applications of Biologic Scaffolds”
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Ravi V. Bellamkonda, PhD, GCC Distinguished Scholar and Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology/Emory University, Atlanta, GA: “Increasing Reliability of Chronic Neural Recordings – Musings from a Biocompatibility Perspective”
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Thomas Boland, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Bioengineering, Clemson University: “3D Organ Printing: Status and Future Prospects”
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Steven M. Chase, PhD, Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Department of Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University: “Advances in Neural Prosthetic Control”
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Bodo Gerold, PhD, Biotronik: “The Magnesium Stent. From Bench to Bedside”
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Clark Hung, PhD, Columbia University: “Physiologic Loading for Strategies of Cartilage Repair”
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Makoto Nakamura, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Science and Engineering, Toyama University, Toyama City, Japan: “3D Micro-Fabrication by Ink-Jet Printer for 3D Tissue Engineering”
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Abhay Pandit, PhD, Professor in Biomedical Engineering, Network of Excellence in Functional Biomaterials, National Centre for Biomedical Engineering Science, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland: “Functionalised Scaffolds for Gene Delivery”
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Christopher D. Prevel, MD, FACS, CEO, Florida Plastic Surgery Institute, and Clinical Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery, University of Central Florida College of Medicine: “Reconstructive Surgical Applications of Biologic Scaffolds”
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William M. Reichert, PhD, Professor of Biomedical Engineering & Chemistry and Director, Center for Biomolecular & Tissue Engineering, Duke University: “In Vitro Model for Gliosis Reaction to Electrode Materials”
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Jagannathan Sankar, PhD, Director of the Center for Advanced Materials and Smart Structures, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, North Carolina A & T University: “Revolutionizing Metallic Biomaterials (RMB)”
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Mark Schulz, PhD, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Cincinnati: “Development of Responsive Biosensors for Implants”
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David Smith, JD, Pepper Hamilton LLC, and Patsy Trisler, JD, Trisler Consulting: “Translating Regenerative Technologies for Commercial Delivery, Focus on Delivery of a Viable Commercial Product or Technology”
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Rocky Tuan, PhD, Chief, Cartilage Biology and Orthopaedics Branch, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, National Institutes of Health: “Adult Stem Cells and Nanomaterials for Skeletal Tissue Engineering and Regeneration”
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Frank Witte, PhD, Hannover Medical School: “Biodegradable Metals in Musculoskeletal Applications”
The poster session was effective in introducing the focus of the Retreat and interests of the faculty and the guests. Dr. Kacey Marra and her committee organized the session and judged the posters. The winners of the poster session were:
Category: Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering
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First Place: Brad Randall, Ling Zhang, Xinyan Tracy Cui: “Manipulation of Neurite Outgrowth and Neural Stem Cell Fate by Electric Stimulation Through Peptide-Doped Conducting Polymers” -
Honorable Mention: Lauren Kokai, Mahan Ghaznavi, Michael Lovett, David Kaplan, Dennis Bourbeau, Douglas Weber, Kacey Marra: “Biodegradable Polymer and Silk Fibroin Nerve Guides for Long Gap Peripheral Nerve Repair”
Category: Cellular Therapies
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First Place: Jonathan Kirk, Guy MacGowan, Caroline Evans, Stephen Smith, Alexandre Sterwart, John Solaro, Sanjeev Shroff: “Left Ventricular and Myocardial Function in Mice Expressing Constitutively Pseudo-Phosphorylated Cardiac Troponin I” -
Honorable Mention: Wei He, Alejandro Nieponice, Lorenzo Soletti, Yi Hong, Mihaela Crisan, Bin Sun, Bruno Peault, William Wagner, David Vorp: “In-Vitro and Preliminary In-Vivo Assessment of a Human Pericyte-Based Tissue-Engineered Vascular Graft”
Category: Medical Devices and Modeling
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First Place: Sam Rothstein, William Federspiel, Steven Little: “In Vitro Realization of Mathematically Designed Controlled Release Therapeutics” -
Honorable Mention: Morgan DiLeo, William Federspiel: “Improving Cytokine Removal Rate Using Anti-TNF Immobilized Beads Within a Cytokine Adsorption Device”
Thanks are extended to all who made this year’s Retreat a success!
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