IGERT fellow Todd Alexander has completed a summer internship at Semprus BioSciences, a biomedical company that provides medical devices to patients. While there Todd worked on modifying the surface of endotracheal tubes in order to improve clinical outcomes such as occlusion and ventilator associated pneumonia.
Month: September 2013
Professor Glenn Gaudette has been awarded a $1.94 million, 5 year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The research involves using biopolymer microthreads to deliver stem cells to hearts that have been damaged by heart attack or chronic disease, to promote muscle regeneration. Prof. Gaudette will be working in collaboration with Prof. George Pins, and Michael Laflamme, MD, PhD, associate professor of pathology at the University of Washington.
These microthreads are each about the size of a human hair and, can be braided into cable-like structures that mimic natural connective tissues. They were first developed in Pins’s lab as a potential tool for repairing torn anterior cruciate ligaments (ACL) in the knee, the microthreads were then transformed by Gaudette and Pins into biological sutures that can be used to stich stem cells directly into wound sites and damaged tissues.
Vessels that deliver blood and oxygen to the heart are choked off, during a heart attack, therefore damaging sections of cardiac muscle. The damaged or “infarcted” muscle scars become rigid and unable to contract, diminishing the heart’s ability to pump blood. The ultimate goal of Gaudette’s team is to use the regenerative capabilities of adult stem cells to transform portions of that scarred tissue back into working heart muscle.
Profs. Kristen Billiar (BME) and Frank Hoy (School of Business) presented a poster at the ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference in Sunriver Oregon about the innovation and translation modules integrated into the WPI IGERT curriculum. Prof. Billiar also organized a workshop at the conference entitled “Lost in Translation: Helping Educators Teach Translational Skills” which featured speakers from academia, industry, and the FDA.