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 February
3
Mark
Saltzman, PhD
Goizueta Foundation Professor of Chemical and
Biomedical Engineering
Chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Yale University
"Controlled Drug Delivery Systems for Cancer
Therapy"
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 February
17
Professor Dame Julia M. Polak
Imperial College Tissue
Engineering & Regenerative Medicine Centre
Chelsea & Westminster Campus
London, England
"Stem Cells & Regenerative
Medicine"
Regenerative medicine is an emerging field that approaches the
repair or replacement of tissues and organs by incorporating the
use of cells, genes or other biological building blocks along
with bioengineered materials and technologies. Advances in
stem cell biology, including the isolation and characterization
of embryonic and post-natal somatic stem cells, have made the
prospect of tissue regeneration a potential clinical reality.
The Imperial College Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine Centre is a base of
operations for the college's leading scientists and clinicians
to pool their expertise to develop tissue engineering, cellular
therapies, biosurgery and artificial and biohybrid organ
devices. Currently, the Centre is focusing on the repair of the
musculo-skeletal and cardio-pulmonary systems testing a variety
of approaches to control the differentiation of stem cells to
the required cell phenotypes. Thus, continuously renewable
pools of cells for repair are being established by deriving
mature phenotypes, specifically osteoblasts, chondrocytes and
pneumocytes, from stem cells and these are being grown with the
aim of constructing tissues for implantation. In parallel, the
mechanisms controlling naturally occurring repair systems are
being investigated in order to identify potential means for
upregulation.
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 March
24
Lori Setton, PhD
Mary Milus Yoh and Harold L Yoh, Jr. Bass
Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Assistant Research Professor of Orthopaedic
Surgery
Duke University
"A Rational Approach to the Design of
Hydrogels for Cartilage Repair"
An important goal of successful cartilage repair is early
restoration of the native mechanical, physicochemical, and
biochemical environments. Challenges exist, however, in
simultaneously achieving these goals with any one strategy. Our
laboratory has interests in determining optimal solutions for
cartilage repair based on clusters of mechanical,
physicochemical and biochemical parameters that are identified
numerically or statistically. Using sets of injectable, in situ
crosslinking scaffolds, we illustrate a rational approach to
biomaterial design that is appropriate for achieving a targeted
set of outcomes for cartilage repair.
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 April
7
Yoram Rudy, PhD
The
Fred Saigh Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Washington University at St. Louis
"From Genetics to Cellular Function Using Computational Biology"
Most
experimental data on the kinetic properties of cardiac ion
channels and their modification by genetic defects have been
obtained in expression systems (e.g., Xenopus oocyte), away from
the cellular environment where these channels function to
generate the cardiac action potential. In my presentation, I
will describe the use of computational biology (computer
simulations) in integrating such information on single ion
channels into models of the functioning cardiac cell. We use
this approach to mechanistically relate molecular processes to
whole-cell electrophysiological function and its manifestation
in electrocardiographic waveforms. Examples will be provided
from the congenital Long QT Syndrome and the Brugada Syndrome.
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 May
5
Julia Babensee, PhD
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory
University
"Biomaterials as Adjuvants"
The advent of innovative combination products has
raised new regulatory concerns previously not considered. Some
such combination products combine biomaterials with cells, DNA,
or proteins, and include tissue engineered constructs in which
cells are delivered with a polymer component and protein or DNA
vaccine systems with non-viral polymeric carriers. Since
biomaterials are used as vehicles in such combination products,
it is important to clarify the role of the biomaterial component
in potentiating the immune responses towards the biological
component due to the adjuvant effect of the biomaterial. In
tissue engineering applications, immune responses are to be
minimized while vaccine strategies seek to enhance the
protective immune response. We have shown that poly(lactic-co-glycolic
acid) (PLGA), a polymer commonly used in combination products,
acts as an adjuvant in the immune response against co-delivered
antigen. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that PLGA is a
maturation stimulus for dendritic cells (DCs), the key antigen
presenting cells, which when mature stimulate effective immune
responses. A differential adjuvant effect has been demonstrated
depending on the biomaterial used to treat DCs. The host
response towards combination products is a fundamental
limitation to translating what has been successful in vitro
to success in vivo. There are a number of devices in the
pipeline where there is the potential for immunological
responses which can compromise device effectiveness. This
research begins to put together the kinds of tools which will be
needed to clarify the immunological situation with these devices
and develop strategies to control immune responses so that the
devices function as intended. In this way, use of these novel
medical devices will be successfully translated from the lab
bench to the living being.
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