Development and Functional Assessment of Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering Therapy (CVTE) T32 Training Grant

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ABSTRACT Tissue engineering has unrealized potential to treat cardiovascular disease, for example, by reversing contractile dysfunction following myocardial infarction. However, the field faces many challenges. Methods to enhance rates of cell engraftment and to direct differentiation of cells into functioning tissue are urgently needed. A major problem is that therapy recipients face potentially lethal electrophysiological instability. We propose to develop a new interdisciplinary predoctoral training program in cardiovascular tissue engineering (CVTE). Particular emphasis will be placed on in vivo evaluation of CVTE therapy using innovative technology. Participating faculty will be drawn from university units including Biomedical Engineering, Cardiovascular Disease, Molecular Genetics, and Pathology. The program will take advantage of recent institutional investments in CVTE (part of a realignment of Biomedical Engineering as a joint department between the Schools of Engineering and Medicine) as well as existing research strengths in cardiovascular physiology (in particular cardiac electrophysiology), stem cell biology, and other CVTE subfields. Students in the program will be exposed to the molecular and cellular biological foundations of CVTE; specific tissue engineering subjects such as scaffold design and CVTE fabrication/vascularization; and broader biomedical engineering subjects such as optics, imaging technology, and biomechanics that are critical for fabricating and evaluating engineered constructs. Topics relevant to translation such as clinical trials and the regulatory environment will also be covered. Trainees will be recruited from the Biomedical Engineering Doctoral program and UAB’s Graduate Biomedical Sciences Program. Many students will have a background in biomedical engineering while others will have undergraduate degrees in other engineering disciplines, the physical sciences, or life science. Students will typically be supported by an institutional fellowship in their first year of graduate training and will be supported by the proposed training program in their second and third years. The mentor pool will include a “core” group of funded investigators and an additional “content” group. Both groups will include investigators from a spectrum of engineering and life science departments. Each student will have a primary mentor from the core group with additional mentors selected from a range of complimentary disciplines to ensure a broad training perspective. We expect that this arrangement will foster interdisciplinary training as well as new collaborations among mentors. While there will be a common set of courses for all trainees, including a new course in CVTE, each trainee’s mentorship team will customize coursework according to their research interests and preparation. A journal club specific to this program will be organized. Students will be expected to participate in numerous relevant seminar series available on campus. Our ultimate goal is to produce professionals able to accelerate the safe clinical adoption of CVTE technology. We expect that graduates will go on to careers in academics, industry and government.