Science Researcher Update

BCI/SDCSB Seminar: Biomaterials for treating cardiovascular disease

Written by BCI Staff | Jan 10, 2014 11:49:00 PM

Biomaterials for treating cardiovascular disease

BioCircuits Institute / SDCSB Winter Seminar Series - La Jolla, CA, United States

Speaker: Karen L. Christman, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Bioengineering

Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, University of California, San Diego

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the western world.  Two major types of cardiovascular disease, myocardial infarction and peripheral artery disease, have few available treatments and therefore numerous patients continue to decline towards heart failure for the former and amputation for the latter.  Current clinical trials have focused on cell therapies.  It is however largely acknowledged that these cells act via paracrine mechanisms to recruit endogenous cells to help repair and regenerate the tissue.  In animal models, it has been established that cellular recruitment to the damaged tissue can also occur via implantation of biomaterial scaffolds.  In particular, injectable hydrogels derived from decellularized extracellular matrix (ECM) can provide tissue specific cues to promote endogenous regeneration.  Rather than surgical implantation, these materials can be delivered minimally invasively, including via catheter-based injection into the heart.  Hydrogels derived from porcine ventricular ECM and skeletal muscle ECM have shown significant promise for treating myocardial infarction and peripheral artery disease, respectively.  Recent developments and translational progress with these materials will be discussed.

Presented by the UCSD BioCircuits Institute (BCI) and The San Diego Center for Systems Biology (SDCSB)

(Courtesy of cardiovascular disease, via http://medicalxpress.com/)

For more information please see the BioCircuits Institute website at biocircuits.ucsd.edu

Tuesday, January 14, 2014 (2:00 PM / Refreshments 1:45pm)

CNCB Auditorium, First Floor (formerly CMG), UCSD, La Jolla, CA, US

Contact: Cookie Santamaria (cookie@ucsd.edu)

Phone: (858) 534-1981

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