It was said...

"PTEI funds allowed me to investigate the use of high-content screening as a drug discovery tool and to develop a specific assay for an enzyme whose activity could previously not be measured.  Inhibitors of the target I initially proposed did not promote growth of cells. Therefore, although the research did not directly benefit  tissue engineering, it has made an impact on cancer research."

Andreas Vogt, PhD       
Research Assistant Professor and Associate Director, Fiske Drug Discovery Laboratory,
University of Pittsburgh Drug Discovery Institute

Coronary artery disease, or heart disease, is among the most widespread and costliest medical conditions in the U.S. About 13 million people in the U.S. have heart disease, which is the leading cause of death in both men and women, claiming a half million lives each year.

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Several regenerative medicine approaches are being explored to address conditions affect the heart and vascular system. One ongoing PTEI-funded project is growing functional heart valves in the laboratory, to replace those too damaged to function properly. These valves may make obsolete the need to harvest blood vessels from a patient’s own leg for coronary bypass surgery. Yet another is creating a heart “patch” made of a biodegradable scaffold, seeded with healthy heart muscle cells to repair a section of heart damaged by heart attack.

Regenerative medicine techniques will one day replace the need for mechanical assist devices in treating heart disease.