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

摘要 组织工程学在治疗心血管疾病方面具有尚未实现的潜力，例如，通过逆转 心肌梗死后的收缩功能障碍。然而，该领域面临着许多挑战。方法，以 提高细胞植入率和直接将细胞分化为功能组织是当务之急。 一个主要问题是，接受治疗的人面临着潜在的致命的电生理不稳定性。我们建议 开发新的心血管组织工程(CVTE)跨学科博士前培训计划。 将特别强调使用创新技术对CVTE治疗进行体内评估。 参与的教职员工将来自大学单位，包括生物医学工程、心血管 疾病、分子遗传学和病理学。该计划将利用最近的机构投资 在CVTE(生物医学工程重新调整的一部分，作为学校之间的一个联合部门 工程和医学)以及心血管生理学的现有研究优势(特别是 心脏电生理学)、干细胞生物学和其他CVTE子领域。 该项目的学生将接触到CVTE的分子和细胞生物学基础； 组织工程学科，如支架设计和CVTE制作/血管形成；以及更广泛的 生物医学工程学科，如光学、成像技术和生物力学，对 制造和评估工程结构。与翻译相关的主题，如临床试验和 监管环境也将包括在内。受训人员将从生物医学工程博士生中招聘 计划和UAB的研究生生物医学科学计划。很多学生都会有 生物医学工程，而其他人将拥有其他工程学科的本科学位， 物理科学，或生命科学。学生在他们的第一个阶段通常会得到机构奖学金的支持。 这是一项为期一年的研究生培训计划，并将在第二和第三年由拟议的培训方案提供支持。 导师池将包括一个由受资助调查人员组成的“核心”小组和一个额外的“内容”小组。两组均为 将包括来自工程和生命科学部门的研究人员。每个学生都将有一个 来自核心小组的主要导师，以及从一系列免费学科中挑选的其他导师 以确保有广阔的培训视角。我们预计这一安排将促进跨学科培训，因为 以及导师之间的新合作。虽然将为所有受训人员提供一套通用的课程，包括 CVTE的新课程，每个学员的导师团队将根据他们的研究定制课程作业 兴趣和准备。将组织一个专门针对这一计划的日记俱乐部。学生们将被期望 参加校园内提供的众多相关系列研讨会。 我们的最终目标是培养能够加速CVTE安全临床应用的专业人员 技术我们预计，毕业生将继续在学术界、工业界和政府部门工作。

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.