Cardiac / en Injectable tissue patch could help repair damaged organs: 茄子直播 research /news/injectable-tissue-patch-could-help-repair-damaged-organs-u-t-research <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Injectable tissue patch could help repair damaged organs: 茄子直播 research</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-08-14-enginnering-scaffold.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=ffWCxFC9 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2017-08-14-enginnering-scaffold.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=WO7Vy8s1 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2017-08-14-enginnering-scaffold.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=ur7ZWXEh 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-08-14-enginnering-scaffold.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=ffWCxFC9" alt> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-08-14T13:33:10-04:00" title="Monday, August 14, 2017 - 13:33" class="datetime">Mon, 08/14/2017 - 13:33</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">The flexible tissue scaffold, shown here emerging from a glass pipette with a tip one millimetre wide, unfolds itself after injection into the body. This could enable surgeons to use minimally invasive techniques (photo by Miles Montgomery and Rick Lu)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/tyler-irving" hreflang="en">Tyler Irving</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Tyler Irving</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cardiac" hreflang="en">Cardiac</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ibbme" hreflang="en">IBBME</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/tissue-engineering" hreflang="en">Tissue Engineering</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">New biomaterial developed by 茄子直播 engineering researchers could be delivered through minimally invasive surgery<br> </div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A team of 茄子直播 engineering researchers is mending broken hearts with an expanding tissue bandage a little smaller than a postage stamp.</p> <p>Repairing heart tissue destroyed by a heart attack or medical condition with regenerative cells or tissues usually requires invasive open-heart surgery. But now biomedical engineering Professor <strong>Milica Radisic</strong>&nbsp;and her colleagues have developed a technique that lets them use a small needle to inject a repair patch, without the need to open up the chest cavity.</p> <p>Radisic鈥檚 team are experts in using polymer scaffolds to grow realistic 3D slices of human tissue in the lab. <a href="/news/u-t-engineers-create-lab-grown-heart-and-liver-tissue-drug-testing-and-more">One of their creations, AngioChip</a>, is a tiny patch of heart tissue with its own blood vessels&nbsp;鈥 the heart cells even beat with a regular rhythm. Another one of their innovations <a href="/news/new-%E2%80%9Ctissue-velcro%E2%80%9D-could-help-repair-damaged-hearts">snaps together like sheets of Velcro</a>鈩.</p> <p>Such lab-grown tissues are already being used to test potential drug candidates for side-effects, but the long-term goal is to implant them back into the body to repair damage.</p> <p>鈥淚f an implant requires open-heart surgery, it鈥檚 not going to be widely available to patients,鈥 says Radisic.</p> <p>She says that after a myocardial infarction 鈥&nbsp;a heart attack 鈥&nbsp;the heart鈥檚 function is reduced so much that invasive procedures like open-heart surgery usually pose more risks than potential benefits.</p> <p>鈥淚t鈥檚 just too dangerous,鈥 she says.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__5507 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/2017-08-14-engineering-tissue-embed.jpg" style="width: 752px; height: 500px; margin: 10px;" typeof="foaf:Image"><br> <em>From left to right, PhD candidate Miles Montgomery&nbsp;discusses his research with MP Peter Van Loan, Professor Milica Radisic and then Minister of State for Science and Technology&nbsp;Ed Holder, during a tour of 茄子直播鈥檚 Institute for Biomaterials &amp; Biomedical Engineering in 2014 (photo by&nbsp;Johnny Guatto)</em></p> <p><strong>Miles Montgomery</strong>, a PhD candidate in Radisic鈥檚 lab, has spent nearly three years developing a patch that could be injected, rather than implanted.</p> <p>鈥淎t the beginning, it was a real challenge,鈥 he says. 鈥淭here was no template to base my design on, and nothing I tried was working. But I took these failures as an indication that I was working on a problem worth solving.鈥</p> <p>After dozens of attempts, Montgomery found a design that matched the mechanical properties of the target tissue&nbsp;and had the required shape-memory behaviour: as it emerges from the needle, the patch unfolds itself into a bandage-like shape.</p> <p><iframe allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="500" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/63Yb-BLHwdA" width="750"></iframe></p> <p>鈥淭he shape-memory effect is based on physical properties, not chemical ones,鈥 says Radisic.</p> <p>This means that the unfolding process doesn鈥檛 require additional injections&nbsp;and won鈥檛 be affected by the local conditions within the body.</p> <p>The next step involved seeding the patch with real heart cells. After letting them grow for a few days, researchers&nbsp;injected the patch into rats and pigs. Not only did&nbsp;the injected patch unfold to nearly the same size as a patch implanted by more invasive methods, the heart cells survived the procedure well.</p> <p>鈥淲hen we saw that the lab-grown cardiac tissue was functional and not affected by the injection process, that was very exciting,鈥 says Montgomery. 鈥淗eart cells are extremely sensitive, so if we can do it with them, we can likely do it with other tissues as well.鈥</p> <p>The scaffold is built out of the same biocompatible, biodegradable polymer used in the team鈥檚 previous creations. Over time, the scaffold will naturally break down, leaving behind the new tissue.</p> <p>The team also showed that injecting the patch into rat hearts can improve cardiac function after a heart attack: damaged ventricles pumped more blood than they did without the patch.</p> <p>鈥淚t can鈥檛 restore the heart back to full health, but if it could be done in a human, we think it would significantly improve quality of life,鈥 says Radisic.</p> <p>There is still a long way to go before the material is ready for clinical trials. Radisic and her team are collaborating with researchers at the Hospital for Sick Children to assess the long-term stability of the patches, as well as whether the improved cardiac function can be maintained.</p> <p>They have also applied for patents on the invention and are exploring the use of the patch in other organs, such as the liver.</p> <p>鈥淵ou could customize this platform, adding growth factors or other drugs that would encourage tissue regeneration,鈥 says Radisic. 鈥淚 think this is one of the coolest things we鈥檝e done.鈥</p> <p>The research is published in <a href="http://www.nature.com/nmat/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nmat4956.html?foxtrotcallback=true"><em>Nature Materials</em></a>. The project was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the University of Toronto, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the Ontario Research Fund.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 14 Aug 2017 17:33:10 +0000 ullahnor 112433 at 茄子直播 inventor-entrepreneur honoured with Governor General鈥檚 Innovation Award /news/u-t-inventor-entrepreneur-honoured-governor-general-s-innovation-award <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">茄子直播 inventor-entrepreneur honoured with Governor General鈥檚 Innovation Award</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-05-02-santerre.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=sEh7ocJj 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2017-05-02-santerre.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=5XBpoqVC 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2017-05-02-santerre.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=8z12JcXv 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-05-02-santerre.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=sEh7ocJj" alt="santerre"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-05-05T09:50:13-04:00" title="Friday, May 5, 2017 - 09:50" class="datetime">Fri, 05/05/2017 - 09:50</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Professor Paul Santerre (left) with PhD candidates Yasaman Delaviz (centre) and Meghan Wright (right) in his lab. He is among the six recipients of the 2017 Governor General鈥檚 Innovation Awards (photo by Neil Ta)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/erin-vollick" hreflang="en">Erin Vollick</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Erin Vollick</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-dentistry" hreflang="en">Faculty of Dentistry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/awards" hreflang="en">Awards</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/innovation" hreflang="en">Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cardiac" hreflang="en">Cardiac</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">The award recognizes outstanding Canadians who contribute to the country鈥檚 success and inspire the next generation</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The molecules he works with may be small, but Professor <strong>Paul Santerre</strong>&nbsp;is using them to solve some of the world's biggest and most pressing medical challenges.</p> <p>One of Santerre鈥檚 most successful inventions is Endexo鈩, a surface-modifying&nbsp;material that can be applied to medical tubing to prevent blood from sticking and clotting,&nbsp;one of the major reasons for catheter failure. His 茄子直播 startup&nbsp;Interface Biologics (IBI)&nbsp;has three distinct molecule-based technology platforms, which can be&nbsp;applied to hundreds of different products&nbsp;and are estimated to be worth billions. He is a leader in engineering smart scaffolds to repair heart tissue.&nbsp;</p> <p>Today, Santerre is one of six awardees&nbsp;being honoured with the 2017 Governor General鈥檚 Innovation Award. He'll will be recognized at a special ceremony at Rideau Hall on May 23.</p> <p>One of the world鈥檚 leading biomaterials researchers, Santerre is a professor in the Faculty of Dentistry and the Institute of Biomaterials &amp; Biomedical Engineering at the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering. He is also a lead researcher at the <a href="http://www.ibbme.utoronto.ca/research/translational-biology-engineering-program/">Translational Biology and Engineering Program</a>, part of the <a href="http://tedrogersresearch.ca/">Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research</a>.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淲e鈥檇 like to congratulate Professor Santerre for winning the University of Toronto鈥檚 first-ever Governor General鈥檚 Innovation Award,鈥 said <strong>Vivek Goel</strong>, the university鈥檚 vice-president of research and innovation. 鈥淭his is a wonderful recognition of his cutting-edge research and his efforts to bring those innovations to market, enabling Canadians and others to lead healthier lives.鈥</p> <p>For example, with Endexo, the&nbsp;flexible material&nbsp;used in medical tubing, it avoids&nbsp;the need for blood-thinning drugs. Santerre commercialized Endexo and other surface-modifying molecules through Interface Biologics, now in its sixteenth year.</p> <p>Useful for far more than medical devices, Santerre鈥檚 surface-modifying technologies are designed to work in harmony with the body鈥檚 natural repair processes.</p> <p>With a collaborative team at the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research, <a href="/news/engineered-smart-scaffolds-u-t-could-help-repair-damaged-hearts-and-muscles">Santerre was recently awarded a three-year, $600,000 Collaborative Health Research Project grant</a> to continue to develop a biodegradable cardiac patch. Adapted from the same basic concepts underlying his surface modifying molecules, the patch persuades damaged cardiac tissues to re-form while it slowly degrades into materials that the body can easily flush. Importantly, the materials in the patch will calm immune responses 鈥&nbsp;preventing fibrotic scar tissue from forming on the heart 鈥&nbsp;and reduce the risk of heart failure. &nbsp; &nbsp;</p> <p>Yet another application of the technology could revolutionize how complicated craniofacial fractures are repaired. Rather than surgically inserting plates and metal screws into the head and face, a ceramic-based 鈥渂one tape鈥 that promotes bone growth could be applied to fracture sites. Surgeons will be able to apply this ceramic-based bone tape directly to fractures without the added need for glue, screws or pins. Like with the heart patch, the materials are designed to calm immune responses and slowly biodegrade as new bone forms, ensuring better cosmetic outcomes as well as faster healing times.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淭his is invention spinning off invention,鈥 Santerre said, crediting his success as a researcher in part to the collaborative and cross-disciplinary culture being fostered by the university and its partnerships, such as that formed between Sick Kids, UHN, and 茄子直播 to create the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research, where Santerre鈥檚 lab is located. 鈥淚t鈥檚 truly amazing to watch. When visitors come here they can鈥檛 believe its collaborative nature,鈥 he added.&nbsp;</p> <p>In addition to his own growing company, Santerre has been guiding his students in commercializing their discoveries through start-up companies, such as the recently founded Polumiros, which is developing its first product for market: a non-inflammatory, biodegradable 鈥渢issue filler鈥 for replacing breast tissue after breast cancer surgeries. Santerre also helps to mentor more than 70 trainee-based startup companies across 茄子直播 in his role as co-director of the Faculty of Medicine鈥檚 <a href="http://h2i.utoronto.ca/">Health Innovation Hub (H2i)</a>.&nbsp;</p> <p>For Santerre, the H2i Hub and the other nine&nbsp;accelerators presently active on campus points to a seismic shift in Canada鈥檚 intellectual institutions, as the university aligns itself with entrepreneurship. It鈥檚 a move he views as critical to Canada鈥檚 economic development and its ability to compete in the global health care and innovation industries.&nbsp;</p> <h3><a href="http://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/">Learn more about entrepreneurship and startups at 茄子直播</a></h3> <p>Health care represents the world鈥檚 largest and fastest growing economic market, contributing as much as $1 out of every $5 to the GDP in North America. But while Canada 鈥&nbsp;Toronto in particular 鈥搃s poised to become a world leader in this growth industry, Santerre points out that this can鈥檛 be accomplished without major investment from Canadian universities.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淭he argument that academia should steer away from contributing to applied knowledge with an entrepreneurial perspective is no longer as tenable as it once was,鈥 said Santerre, who was awarded the NSERC Synergy Award for Innovation in 2012, the <a href="http://www.manningawards.ca/en/welcome">Ernest C. Manning Innovation Award鈥檚</a> Principal Award in 2014, and 茄子直播鈥檚 prestigious Connaught Innovation Award earlier this year.</p> <p>鈥淚 extend to Paul my most sincere congratulations on this well-deserved honour,鈥 said <strong>Daniel Haas</strong>, dean of the Faculty of Dentistry. 鈥淭his award is a recognition of Paul鈥檚 ingenuity and drive to bring the University of Toronto, and by extension, Canada, to the forefront of the innovation industries through its applied and clinical research, and a direct reflection of his enormous impact.鈥&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淧rofessor Santerre鈥檚 outstanding research and inventions are a brilliant example of how multidisciplinary collaboration can address complex challenges and help people live longer, healthier lives,鈥 said <strong>Cristina Amon</strong>, aean of the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering. 鈥淥n behalf of the Faculty, my warmest congratulations to him on this richly deserved and prestigious recognition.鈥</p> <p>Now in its second year, the Governor General Innovation Awards program recognizes 鈥渢railblazers and creators鈥 who contribute to a culture of innovation in Canada.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 05 May 2017 13:50:13 +0000 ullahnor 107233 at Coffee shops, 24-hour ATMs are the best locations for life-saving AEDs, 茄子直播 research shows /news/coffee-shops-24-hour-atms-are-best-locations-life-saving-aeds-u-t-research-shows <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Coffee shops, 24-hour ATMs are the best locations for life-saving AEDs, 茄子直播 research shows</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-03-20-chan.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=oy1dxvJF 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2017-03-20-chan.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=x1tCRSM_ 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2017-03-20-chan.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Rh6GOUrs 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-03-20-chan.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=oy1dxvJF" alt="Photo of Timothy Chan and student"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-03-20T16:57:33-04:00" title="Monday, March 20, 2017 - 16:57" class="datetime">Mon, 03/20/2017 - 16:57</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Timothy Chan (left) and Christopher Sun (right) studied data on cardiac arrest locations in Toronto to determine a list of 鈥淭op 10鈥 businesses where placing automated external defibrillators would save lives (photo by Marit Mitchell)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/liz-do" hreflang="en">Liz Do</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Liz Do</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cardiac" hreflang="en">Cardiac</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/engineering" hreflang="en">Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cities" hreflang="en">Cities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/defibrillators" hreflang="en">Defibrillators</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/timothy-chan" hreflang="en">Timothy Chan</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health" hreflang="en">Health</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">茄子直播 Engineering team creates list of top 10 businesses where placing automatic external defibrillators would save lives</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>ATMs and coffee shops such as Tim Hortons, Starbucks and Second Cup make ideal locations for placing automated external defibrillators (AEDs), says a new study led by 茄子直播 Engineering Professor<strong>&nbsp;Timothy Chan&nbsp;</strong>and PhD candidate <strong>Christopher Sun</strong>, in collaboration with St. Michael鈥檚 Hospital.</p> <p>When a patient suffers cardiac arrest, every second counts 鈥 the chances of survival decrease by 10 per cent each minute. Responding quickly can be the difference between life and death, and that means having immediate access to a nearby AED.</p> <p>鈥淧revious research on AED placements had focused on broadly defined location categories, like shopping malls or office buildings,鈥 said Sun. 鈥淏ut these categories generalize many individual businesses, which have different hours, activities performed, and other unique properties that meant we could be missing critical insight on which locations are really high risk. So we wanted to get more specific: which individual locations or businesses could AEDs be placed to make sure they are accessible to the largest number of people throughout the day.鈥</p> <p>Their findings are&nbsp;already making headlines.</p> <h3><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/defibrillators-coffee-shops-abms-1.4033142">See the CBC story</a></h3> <h3><a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/03/20/tim-hortons-atms-ideal-locations-for-automated-external-defibrillators-study.html">See the Toronto Star story</a></h3> <h3><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/20/health/aed-coffee-shop-atm-study/index.html">See the CNN story</a></h3> <p>Their new study, published today in the American Heart Association journal <em><a href="http://circ.ahajournals.org/">Circulation</a></em>, looked at where cardiac arrests occur, to find locations where AEDs would be most valuable.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__3880 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/defib-map-embed.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 563px;" typeof="foaf:Image"><br> <em>Map of the facilities of the Top 5 ranked businesses in terms of actual coverage in all of Toronto&nbsp;(image courtesy of&nbsp;Sun &amp; Chan)</em></p> <p>First, the researchers identified all businesses with 20 or more locations in Toronto 鈥&nbsp;facilities such as Tim Hortons coffee shops or libraries that would make good candidates to place AEDs in.</p> <p>Then they looked at the number of cardiac arrests that occurred within 100 metres of each location, during the businesses鈥 operating hours. Using this data, Chan and Sun calculated the 鈥渟patiotemporal cardiac arrest coverage鈥 provided by each location or business. The specific locations and businesses were then ranked to determine a 鈥淭op 10鈥 list of prime spots to place AEDs.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淲e found that coffee shops and ATMs ranked highly across several related metrics, and that those rankings were stable over the years,鈥 said Chan, who is the director of the <a href="http://che.utoronto.ca/">Centre for Healthcare Engineering</a> at U&nbsp;of T&nbsp;and a Canada Research Chair in Novel Optimization and Analytics in Health.</p> <p>鈥淲hat we found really interesting is that ATMs, as opposed to the more traditional businesses, are often standalone or outdoors, and are often available 24/7. They鈥檙e also universally recognizable and already have an electronic and security infrastructure 鈥&nbsp;hypothetically, if we were to have AEDs paired with ATMs, it would be very beneficial,鈥 said Sun.</p> <p>Three coffee shop chains 鈥&nbsp;Tim Hortons, Starbucks and Second Cup 鈥&nbsp;as well as five of the big banks with many ATM locations, including RBC and Scotiabank, made the top 10. Tim Hortons was ranked first, with more than 300 shops in Toronto. These locations alone would have provided AED coverage for more than 200 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests over an eight-year period.</p> <p>The researchers hope this new study could soon lead to AEDs placed in these optimal locations.</p> <p>鈥淗ealth organizations, foundations and policymakers aiming to develop public access defibrillator programs could use our rankings to identify promising businesses to develop partnerships for AED deployment,鈥 added Chan.</p> <p>Chan鈥檚 lab has a number of ongoing research projects on AED placements, including using drones to deliver AEDs, and optimizing AED placements in high-rise buildings.</p> <p>鈥淯ltimately, we want to get AEDs in the right locations&nbsp;so they are accessible when needed most,鈥 said Chan.</p> <p>Sun says cardiac arrests are unique because in the early stages they can be treated as effectively by untrained responders as by paramedics.</p> <p>鈥淭hat鈥檚 why finding out the best placements for AEDs is so important,鈥 said Sun. 鈥淲e have the opportunity to save lives based on our level of preparation and organization.鈥</p> <p><u><strong>Top 10 locations for AEDs based on coverage</strong></u></p> <p>Tim Hortons<br> RBC ATMs<br> Subway restaurants<br> Scotiabank ATMs<br> CIBC ATMs<br> TD ATMs<br> Green P public parking lots<br> Starbucks<br> BMO ATMs<br> Second Cup</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 20 Mar 2017 20:57:33 +0000 ullahnor 105998 at Engineered smart scaffolds at 茄子直播 could help repair damaged hearts and muscles /news/engineered-smart-scaffolds-u-t-could-help-repair-damaged-hearts-and-muscles <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Engineered smart scaffolds at 茄子直播 could help repair damaged hearts and muscles</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-01-27-heart.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=SXQqvZUR 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2017-01-27-heart.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=sz0EuTwW 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2017-01-27-heart.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=ryAJf0tD 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-01-27-heart.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=SXQqvZUR" alt="Photo of Paul Santerre"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-01-27T12:07:36-05:00" title="Friday, January 27, 2017 - 12:07" class="datetime">Fri, 01/27/2017 - 12:07</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Professor Paul Santerre (left) and PhD candidates Yasaman Delaviz (middle) and Meghan Wright (right) are developing implantable materials that can activate the body鈥檚 innate response to damage, including heart attacks (photo by Neil Ta) </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/tyler-irving" hreflang="en">Tyler Irving</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Tyler Irving</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ibbme" hreflang="en">IBBME</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cardiac" hreflang="en">Cardiac</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/muscle" hreflang="en">Muscle</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A scar on your skin may be insignificant, but a scar on your heart could be deadly. Scar tissue in muscle can impair its function and lead to long-term damage like limping or heart failure.</p> <p>Leading-edge research from the University of Toronto is addressing this challenge. Two multidisciplinary teams consisting of engineers, biologists, physicians and other medical experts are designing implantable materials that activate the body鈥檚 innate response to injury, leading to more complete healing and preventing harmful complications.</p> <p>These projects are made possible through Medicine by Design and the Translational Biology and Engineering Program (TBEP), two major collaborative research initiatives led by 茄子直播 Engineering faculty members that have been created in the last three years. Medicine by Design and TBEP unite researchers from 茄子直播's Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering and many other faculties across University of Toronto, as well as external partners at hospitals and research institutions.</p> <h3><a href="http://news.engineering.utoronto.ca/tag/medicine-by-design/">Learn more about Medicine by Design</a></h3> <h3><a href="http://news.engineering.utoronto.ca/tag/medicine-by-design/">Learn more about the Translational Biology and Engineering Program (TBEP)</a><br> &nbsp;</h3> <h3><u><strong>Repairing heart tissue</strong></u></h3> <p>After a heart attack, the body鈥檚 immune system clears away dead cells and stimulates the remaining tissue to repair itself, but the fix is rarely seamless.</p> <p>鈥淭he repair process leaves scars behind,鈥 says&nbsp;<strong>Paul Santerre</strong>, a professor at&nbsp;IBBME who is&nbsp;one of the principal investigators at TBEP. 鈥淎fter years of running inefficiently because of those scars, gradually the walls of the heart begin to weaken, leading to heart failure.鈥</p> <p>Santerre and his team have taken a form of polyurethane&nbsp;鈥&nbsp;a type of plastic&nbsp;鈥&nbsp;and chemically formulated new monomer configurations, enabling the material to instigate a repair response by the immune system.</p> <p>鈥淚f you get a splinter in your finger, your body will recognize that as something foreign that needs to be eliminated,鈥 says Santerre. 鈥淥ur degradable polymers bind to proteins that are signals for the immune system, telling it not to go into an inflammatory state, but rather go into a repair state.鈥</p> <p>The team recently received funding to develop a cardiac patch that could be used following a heart attack. 鈥淭he ultimate goal would be to build a construct out of our material, seed it with a patient鈥檚 own stem cells in the lab, grow the tissue within a couple of weeks and then insert that as a patch to coach local repair.鈥&nbsp;</p> <p>The patch could lead to more complete healing, minimizing long-term damage.</p> <p>Santerre is also collaborating with fellow TBEP members&nbsp;<strong>Craig Simmons</strong>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>Hai-Ling Margaret Cheng</strong>&nbsp;on other applications of the material, such as generating replacement heart valves or regrowing small blood vessels in the heart.</p> <p>鈥淭o have leading experts in biomechanics, medical imaging and genomics&nbsp;all within seconds of my office, that鈥檚 really going to accelerate this work.鈥</p> <h3><u><strong>Accelerating muscle recovery</strong></u></h3> <p>After a traumatic injury, muscles can become swollen to the point where they constrict blood flow. This condition, known as compartment syndrome, can lead to death of muscle tissue.</p> <p>The standard treatment is to cut open the affected area to relieve the pressure&nbsp;but recovery can take months. Now, a team of biomedical engineers, biologists and physicians aims to speed up the process by activating a type of stem cell found in muscle tissue&nbsp;called satellite cells.</p> <p>鈥淪atellite cells are essential for repairing muscle,鈥 says <strong>Penney Gilbert</strong>, assistant professor at&nbsp;茄子直播's&nbsp;Institute of Biomaterials &amp; Biomedical Engineering (IBBME), one of the researchers on the project. 鈥淲e need them to wake up, make copies of themselves, fuse and fix the broken muscle fibres to repair the damage.鈥</p> <p>Gilbert and her team study the signaling proteins produced by nearby cells that activate satellite cells. They hope that by mimicking these molecules, they can enhance the body鈥檚 natural response to trauma.</p> <p>鈥淲e could synthesize all those different proteins and deliver them to the area, but it would be very cumbersome,鈥 says<strong> Michael Sefton</strong>,<strong>&nbsp;</strong>University Professor&nbsp;in chemical engineering at&nbsp;IBBME, who is a lead researcher on the collaboration.</p> <p>Instead, the team aims for a simpler approach. They want to create an implantable material that incorporates the effect of the signaling proteins into its chemical structure. This more elegant solution would still activate the satellite cells&nbsp;while ensuring that the response stays localized and lasts throughout recovery.</p> <p>鈥淲e want a device, not a drug,鈥 says Sefton.</p> <p>The project is among 20 collaborations funded through Medicine by Design. Sefton and Gilbert are collaborating with 茄子直播 Engineering Associate Professor <strong>Alison McGuigan</strong> as well as a number of medical researchers at Toronto-area hospitals.</p> <p>鈥淲e have expertise along the entire pathway&nbsp;from the fundamental biology of the satellite cells&nbsp;to the creation of a bio-active material,鈥 says Sefton. 鈥淓veryone is contributing to an integrated whole.鈥</p> <p>After a heart attack, the body鈥檚 immune system clears away dead cells and stimulates the remaining tissue to repair itself, but the fix is rarely seamless.</p> <p>鈥淭he repair process leaves scars behind,鈥 says <strong>Paul Santerre</strong>, a professor at IBBME who is&nbsp;one of the principal investigators at TBEP. 鈥淎fter years of running inefficiently because of those scars, gradually the walls of the heart begin to weaken, leading to heart failure.鈥</p> <p>Santerre and his team have taken a form of polyurethane 鈥&nbsp;a type of plastic 鈥&nbsp;and chemically formulated new monomer configurations, enabling the material to instigate a repair response by the immune system.</p> <p>鈥淚f you get a splinter in your finger, your body will recognize that as something foreign that needs to be eliminated,鈥 says Santerre. 鈥淥ur degradable polymers bind to proteins that are signals for the immune system, telling it not to go into an inflammatory state, but rather go into a repair state.鈥</p> <p>The team recently received funding to develop a cardiac patch that could be used following a heart attack. 鈥淭he ultimate goal would be to build a construct out of our material, seed it with a patient鈥檚 own stem cells in the lab, grow the tissue within a couple of weeks and then insert that as a patch to coach local repair.鈥</p> <p>The patch could lead to more complete healing, minimizing long-term damage.</p> <p>Santerre is also collaborating with fellow TBEP members <strong>Craig Simmons</strong> and <strong>Hai-Ling Margaret Cheng</strong> on other applications of the material, such as generating replacement heart valves or regrowing small blood vessels in the heart.</p> <p>鈥淭o have leading experts in biomechanics, medical imaging and genomics&nbsp;all within seconds of my office, that鈥檚 really going to accelerate this work.鈥</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 27 Jan 2017 17:07:36 +0000 ullahnor 103615 at 茄子直播 researchers' drone-delivered AEDs offer novel approach to saving lives at home /news/u-t-researchers-drone-delivered-aeds-offer-novel-approach-saving-lives-home <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">茄子直播 researchers' drone-delivered AEDs offer novel approach to saving lives at home</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2016-11-14-drones-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=5VaCTlK- 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2016-11-14-drones-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=rePDrO8- 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2016-11-14-drones-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=s97IMM7C 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2016-11-14-drones-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=5VaCTlK-" alt="Photo of drone researchers"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-11-14T12:18:22-05:00" title="Monday, November 14, 2016 - 12:18" class="datetime">Mon, 11/14/2016 - 12:18</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">茄子直播's Timothy Chan (left), Angela Schoellig and Justin Boutilier (right) are part of a research team trying to use drones to deliver AEDs (photo by Liz Do)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/liz-do" hreflang="en">Liz Do</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Liz Do</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/city-culture" hreflang="en">City &amp; Culture</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/drones" hreflang="en">drones</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health" hreflang="en">Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/emergency" hreflang="en">Emergency</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cardiac" hreflang="en">Cardiac</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/aed" hreflang="en">AED</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/timothy-chan" hreflang="en">Timothy Chan</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Drone delivery could shave crucial minutes off the median ambulance response times in both rural and urban regions</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>When a person goes into cardiac arrest, every passing minute hurts their chances of survival. Now, a group of University of Toronto researchers want to use drones to deliver life-saving automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) rapidly and directly to homes.</p> <p><strong>Justin Boutilier</strong>, a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering,&nbsp;envisions a future in which a bystander or family member who witnesses a cardiac arrest can call 911, and within minutes, an AED is flown to their doorstep or balcony to be administered 鈥&nbsp;before the paramedics arrive.</p> <p>Boutilier is working under Associate Professor <strong>Timothy Chan</strong>, director of 茄子直播's <a href="http://che.utoronto.ca/">Centre for Healthcare Engineering</a>, in collaboration with Assistant Professor <strong>Angela Schoellig</strong> and researchers from St. Michael鈥檚 Hospital's&nbsp;<a href="http://stmichaelshospitalresearch.ca/research-programs/rescu/">Rescu</a> program, in order to turn the&nbsp;futuristic idea into a life-saving reality.</p> <p>This project comes on the heels of research by Chan鈥檚 lab on cardiac arrests that occur outside of hospitals, and the <a href="http://news.engineering.utoronto.ca/many-life-saving-defibrillators-behind-locked-doors-off-hours-study-finds/">lack of accessible AEDs</a> in public locations during non-business hours. Boutilier is now focusing on reducing deaths from cardiac arrests that occur at home.</p> <p>About 85 per cent of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in Southern Ontario take place within a private residence.</p> <p>鈥淔or those arrests, the public AEDs are not useful because it鈥檚 hard to get to them in time. It鈥檚 also not cost effective to put AEDs everywhere in the suburbs,鈥 explained Boutilier.&nbsp;</p> <p>Therefore, the&nbsp;survival rates are not good.</p> <p>鈥淣ot only is the survival rate of private-location cardiac arrests low, the response times are also slower than public locations,鈥 said Chan. 鈥淪o we thought, we need to come up with something completely new.鈥&nbsp;</p> <p>Chan and Dr. Steve Brooks, an emergency physician at Kingston General Hospital and frequent collaborator at Rescu, found a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-rEI4bezWc">video of a prototype AED drone</a> designed at Delft University in the Netherlands. A PhD student had developed the prototype, complete with a camera and microphone, which weighed only four kilograms and travelled 100 kilometres per hour.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淭o us, the idea of using a drone to deliver an AED to private location cardiac arrests seemed like a no-brainer,鈥 said Chan.</p> <p>Of the many benefits to AED drone delivery: 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have to worry about traffic. You could get the AED there faster than paramedics so the bystander can start treatment as early as possible. And that鈥檚 very important. Every minute that goes by, the chance of survival decreases,鈥 said Chan.&nbsp;</p> <p>To determine where drones should be stationed and how many are needed to serve a given population, Boutilier obtained historical cardiac arrest data from eight regions in Southern Ontario, including dense urban cities and sparse rural communities.</p> <p>鈥淲e conducted our analysis by imagining that this technology was implemented five years ago and asking, what would the next five years have looked like?鈥 Boutilier explained.&nbsp;</p> <p>What they found was that they were able to shave several minutes off the median ambulance response times in both rural and urban regions, and drones could arrive ahead of ambulances more than 90 per cent of the time.</p> <p>鈥淭he one challenging thing is that it鈥檚 hard to know the number of lives we could have saved, which is what we鈥檙e looking at now,鈥 said Boutilier.</p> <p>Regulatory restrictions present another challenge to implementation 鈥&nbsp;aviation, including drone flights, is strictly regulated by Transport Canada. Current rules stipulate that users are prohibited from flying drones out of their line of sight.</p> <p>Schoellig, the associate director of the <a href="http://carre.utoronto.ca/">Centre for Aerial Robotics Research and Education</a> (CARRE) at U&nbsp;of T, believes these restrictive regulations won鈥檛 last for long. 鈥淚t is a matter of proving safety and reliability of this new technology to the regulators. This will require more technological breakthroughs 鈥&nbsp;for example, giving drones the ability to detect obstacles.</p> <p>But drone technology has developed very quickly in the last five to 10 years,鈥 she explained.</p> <p>鈥淕oogle and Amazon are already working on implementing delivery drones and have been lobbying the government to ease these regulations,鈥 added Boutilier. &nbsp;鈥淪o if the government allows the drone delivery of commercial products, they would allow the delivery of AEDs, which is a life-saving matter.鈥&nbsp;</p> <p>This past weekend, Boutilier and Chan presented their research at the <a href="https://professional.heart.org/professional/EducationMeetings/MeetingsLiveCME/ScientificSessions/UCM_321311_Resuscitation-Science-Symposium.jsp">American Heart Association Resuscitation Science Symposium</a> in New Orleans, where Boutilier says he was excited to see the reactions from attendees.</p> <p>鈥淒epending on whom you talk to, the response can be very different. When I talk to medical professionals, some say, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 too futuristic,鈥 but when I talk to tech people their reaction is often, 鈥楾his technology has been around for the last few years. We could do this tomorrow.鈥&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to shake things up a bit within the field of health care, and change the way people are thinking about how we solve problems.鈥</p> <p>In the near future, Boutilier hopes to pilot the project in Muskoka, a region that has a high rate of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and the slowest ambulance response time of all the regions they鈥檝e gathered data from.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淚 think the technology is there. I think the challenge is in the details of how to make this work,鈥 said Chan. 鈥淚t鈥檚 working through government regulations, coordinating with Emergency Medical Services, and making sure the public is behind this, that they have awareness of drones and its various purposes.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淏ut ultimately, it鈥檚 an idea that I think can really make a huge leap forward in our ability to get defibrillators to patients. &nbsp;I think within five to 10 years, drone deliveries will be a reality.鈥</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 14 Nov 2016 17:18:22 +0000 ullahnor 102412 at At the intersection of dance and nitroglycerin /news/intersection-dance-and-nitroglycerin <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">At the intersection of dance and nitroglycerin</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2015-12-03T21:32:51-05:00" title="Thursday, December 3, 2015 - 21:32" class="datetime">Thu, 12/03/2015 - 21:32</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">鈥淚 feel happy after I dance,鈥 Kangbin Zhou says, 鈥渁nd that happiness helps me overcome despair or frustration after a difficult day in the lab.鈥</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/erin-howe" hreflang="en">Erin Howe</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Erin Howe</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/features" hreflang="en">Features</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/student" hreflang="en">Student</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cardiac" hreflang="en">Cardiac</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health" hreflang="en">Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/disease" hreflang="en">Disease</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/awards" hreflang="en">Awards</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/arts" hreflang="en">Arts</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item"> PhD student leads on the dance floor and in researching why angina treatment works</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>By day, <strong>Kangbin Zhou</strong> researches what makes nitroglycerin 鈥&nbsp;a common treatment for chest pain also known as angina&nbsp;鈥&nbsp;effective.</p> <p>By night, the fourth-year pharmacology and toxicology PhD student can be found tearing up the dance floor as the founder and instructor of a 茄子直播 urban dance club.</p> <p>Zhou is the first recipient of the Dr. <strong>Malle Jurima-Romet</strong> Award in Pharmacology and Toxicology, which recognizes both his academic excellence and his involvement in the arts. The award is named in honour of Jurima-Romet, who earned her PhD from the department while doing research into pharmacogenetics.</p> <p>Before her death last year from cancer, Jurima-Romet had a diverse range of interests encompassing both science and art. As a scientist focused on drug metabolism, she wrote more than 60 peer-reviewed publications, and co-edited books on biomarkers in drug development as well as drug-to-drug interactions. During her career, she worked as a scientist for Health Canada followed by a successful career in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry and served as an adjunct professor at both the University of Montreal and the University of Ottawa.</p> <p>Jurima-Romet was also an accomplished artist who worked with watercolour and oil paints as well as pastels. She received invitations to display her work at group and solo shows, and her paintings can be found in private collections in Canada, the United States and Europe. She was also a master instructor of Japanese Ikebana flower arranging and had a love for music with included experience playing piano and violin.</p> <p>Like Jurima-Romet, Zhou鈥檚 passions include science and art.</p> <p>鈥淒ance not only gave me a brand new experience, it also gave me a new way to reduce stress,鈥 he says.鈥淚 feel happy after I dance and that happiness helps me overcome despair or frustration after a difficult day in the lab.鈥</p> <p>Zhou鈥檚 PhD studies explore nitroglycerin, which has been most commonly used to treat angina for more than 100 years. Despite the drug鈥檚 well-established utility for treating chest pain, scientists still don鈥檛 understand why it is effective, and why people become less responsive to it during long-term therapy. Zhou focuses on a special protein called aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH-2), which some scientists believe could be responsible for making nitroglycerin work. This protein might become inactivated during chronic treatment.</p> <p>Many people, and especially people with Asian ancestry, carry ALDH-2 in a mutated form. Current literature suggests this mutation may cause the protein to function less efficiently. Zhou wants to know if this protein is what makes the drug work, and if so, whether the dose and delivery method need to be tailored for people with the enzyme mutation. He also wants to know how this protein becomes inactivated in patients during long-term treatment.</p> <p>鈥淢y mother had angina when I was a child. I can remember her asking me to grab her medication whenever she had acute chest pain. That鈥檚 what inspired me to become involved in drug research.鈥</p> <p>As Zhou completed his BSc at the University of British Colombia, he began to dabble in salsa dance. While he pursued his MSc, Zhou also trained at a professional Latin dance school, helping him maintain a balanced lifestyle and grow a broad social network. As he began his PhD studies at 茄子直播, he joined the 茄子直播 Dance Club and took dance classes at Hart House. He went on to launch a new club called Urban Dance Revolution, which offers affordable lessons to 茄子直播 students.</p> <p>鈥淕raduate and PhD students may not have opportunities to pursue outside interests because often they just don鈥檛 have that extra money to do it,鈥 says Tiit Romet, Jurima-Romet鈥檚 husband of more than 25 years, who established the award. 鈥淭here鈥檚 more to a person than academics. If a student can realize some of their other potential and feed their passion for something else like music or art while they are furthering their education, their university experience will be all the better.鈥</p> <p>The award will help Zhou further his own dance training while expanding the dance club and its work.</p> <p>鈥淚 want students to have a chance to learn from &nbsp;鈥&nbsp;and be inspired by 鈥&nbsp;their peers instead of professional instructors,鈥 Zhou says. 鈥淭hese students might say, 鈥業 see my dance 鈥榠nstructor鈥 is taking the same academic classes I am, so maybe one day I can become like them.鈥</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><iframe allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0d9RVZkpBB0?rel=0" width="560"></iframe></p> <p>(<a href="http://urbandance.sa.utoronto.ca/">Learn more about Urban Dance Revolution</a>)&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2015-12-03-dance-class.jpg</div> </div> Fri, 04 Dec 2015 02:32:51 +0000 sgupta 7497 at Building a better heart: celebrating the first year of the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research /news/building-better-heart-celebrating-first-year-ted-rogers-centre-heart-research <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Building a better heart: celebrating the first year of the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2015-11-20T05:35:39-05:00" title="Friday, November 20, 2015 - 05:35" class="datetime">Fri, 11/20/2015 - 05:35</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"> Professor Craig Simmons and Professor Peter Zandstra (standing) are two of the leading researchers driving scientific discovery and the development of new therapies at the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/heidi-singer" hreflang="en">Heidi Singer</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Heidi Singer</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/medicine" hreflang="en">Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cardiac" hreflang="en">Cardiac</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health" hreflang="en">Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/more-news" hreflang="en">More News</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>What if we could identify the gene responsible for a baby鈥檚 heart defect, grow a piece of her heart on a chip, then test drugs to find the one able to shut down the defective gene?</p> <p>A decade ago, that scenario seemed as far-fetched as a Mars landing. Today, University of Toronto researchers predict these stunning achievements are just a few years away, thanks to the <a href="http://tedrogersresearch.ca/">Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research</a> 鈥&nbsp;a powerful collaboration between scientists from 茄子直播鈥檚 medical and engineering faculties and physicians from SickKids and the University Health Network.</p> <p>As <a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/historic-130-million-gift-establish-ted-rogers-centre-heart-research">the Centre celebrates its first anniversary</a> and &nbsp;茄子直播 researchers prepare &nbsp;to move into the MaRS West Tower, which will be the Centre鈥檚 new home, writer <strong>Heidi Singer</strong>&nbsp;of the Faculty of Medicine&nbsp;spoke with Professor <strong>Craig Simmons</strong>, who leads 茄子直播鈥檚 collaboration as scientific director for the Translational Biology and Engineering Program.&nbsp;</p> <hr> <p><strong>What is 茄子直播鈥檚 role in the Centre?</strong><br> Our mission is to help discover the causes of heart failure and engineer therapies. We鈥檙e making fundamental discoveries about the mechanisms of cardiac diseases, discovering new biomarkers and building heart tissues with molecules, cells and biomaterials. The overall mission is to reduce hospital admissions due to heart failure by 50 per cent within 10 years. That鈥檚 very ambitious, but it can be done. The key is to bring everyone together: medical researchers, doctors, engineers and many other specialties.&nbsp;</p> <p>Our new space will help make it happen. It鈥檚 state-of-the-art, highly integrated and interdisciplinary. We have a whole floor and eventually we鈥檒l have 130 people there. Engineers will be sitting beside biologists who are sitting beside clinicians. &nbsp;This will spark collaborations that would never have happened otherwise.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Can you describe some of the most exciting work at the Centre?</strong><br> Let鈥檚 say a baby is born with heart problems and a doctor at SickKids finds a gene associated with heart failure. Using stem cells from the baby, we can create a model of that child鈥檚 heart on a platform that looks like a chip. Then we can do personalized drug testing on the chip before the child ever swallows a pill. The technology exists now. I鈥檓 collaborating with a cardiologist who gets the stem cells from the patient and creates heart muscle cells. We put it on the chip. Then we would test drugs on it.</p> <p>We鈥檙e also growing living replacement heart valve tissue in the lab. This could replace our current solution, which is mechanical heart valves that require people to be on blood thinners the rest of their lives. This is important for children because often we replace a valve in babies with fabric. That works for a bit and then they need multiple operations to replace it. What if we can get the baby鈥檚 cells from the umbilical cord and grow a heart valve that鈥檚 living tissue that will grow with the baby and adapt as the baby grows? We鈥檙e doing the same with blood vessels and heart muscle. Instead of using synthetics and other artificial replacements, we could use living replacements that would require one surgery to fully restore function.&nbsp;</p> <p>We鈥檙e already in the early stages, and while we鈥檙e several years away from success, all the technology is in place. The demand is there. We know from the surgeons that the current state of the art isn鈥檛 great. The challenge now is to create tissues that are comparable to what鈥檚 in the body already.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> <strong>You鈥檙e a mechanobiologist. Explain. &nbsp;</strong><br> This is a field that鈥檚 been emerging over the past decade. We鈥檙e interested in how mechanical forces in the body affect cell function. We study the heart valve a lot. It opens and closes with every beat of the heart. The valve stretches and bends when blood rushes by. If you have high blood pressure or a malformed valve it causes even more mechanical stress, contributing to valve disease. Most people think of something in the blood, like cholesterol, causing heart disease. But cells react to mechanical forces. One day we鈥檒l make a drug that desensitizes heart cells to mechanical forces.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> <strong>Dream a bit. What will cardiac care look like in 50 years?</strong><br> We鈥檒l have injectable biomaterials and molecules to help the heart heal itself. Some animals, like zebrafish, can do it. Whatever gene allows them to do it, maybe we can turn that gene on in humans.&nbsp;</p> <p>In addition, our ability to grow your exact heart cells in a lab will allow us to conduct drug trials in a Petri dish instead of on an animal. Thiswill give us lightning-fast results. It鈥檚 taking some of the guess work out by eliminating something that鈥檚 going to fail. Right now drugs are screened in animal models that don鈥檛 match up to human biology perfectly. That鈥檚 one reason why most promising research falls apart when we get to human trials, which is why it costs so much and takes so long to develop a drug. We could eliminate those false positives sooner and develop personalized drugs for your heart. &nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Is there anything like the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research anywhere in the world?</strong><br> It鈥檚 unique in terms of the number and diversity of people we have. There鈥檚 the potential to be in the top five in the world for cardiovascular research and maybe the number one in the world for heart failure. That will come to fruition if we can bring everyone together and synergize. That鈥檚 where we鈥檒l really see the potential fulfilled.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2014-11-19-researchers2.jpg</div> </div> Fri, 20 Nov 2015 10:35:39 +0000 sgupta 7464 at Defibrillators: making sure they're accessible when and where heart attacks are most likely to happen /news/defibrillators-making-sure-theyre-accessible-when-and-where-heart-attacks-are-most-likely-happen <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Defibrillators: making sure they're accessible when and where heart attacks are most likely to happen</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2015-11-10T10:28:38-05:00" title="Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - 10:28" class="datetime">Tue, 11/10/2015 - 10:28</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">(photo by Liz Do)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/liz-do" hreflang="en">Liz Do</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Liz Do</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/medicine" hreflang="en">Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cardiac" hreflang="en">Cardiac</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health" hreflang="en">Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/engineering" hreflang="en">Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/defibrillators" hreflang="en">Defibrillators</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cities" hreflang="en">Cities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research" hreflang="en">Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/more-news" hreflang="en">More News</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Research finds life-saving devices are often located in buildings and facilities with limited opening hours</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Walking through an office building on St. George Street, Engineering's&nbsp;<strong>Christopher Sun</strong>&nbsp;quickly spots a portable automated external defibrillator (AED) conveniently tucked near the side of the entrance.</p> <p>From 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., its accessibility could be vital in saving a life. But after the building closes at 9 p.m., it is almost as if the AED isn鈥檛 there.</p> <p>That problem is&nbsp;what the PhD student's research is examining, with Associate Professor <strong>Timothy Chan</strong>&nbsp;of Mechanical &amp; Industrial Engineering&nbsp;and in collaboration with St. Michael鈥檚 Hospital and its Rescu program, led by Dr. <strong>Laurie Morrison</strong>.</p> <p>Sun recently presented their findings at the American Heart Association (AHA) conference in Orlando. Chan had previously presented at the AHA conference in 2010, sharing his findings on the placement of registered AEDs in Toronto and Peel Region. What he discovered back then was that spatial distribution of AEDs was not optimal.</p> <p>鈥淥ur original finding was that less than one in four cardiac arrests occurred near an AED,鈥 Chan said.</p> <p>Sun鈥檚 research takes that research a step further.</p> <p>鈥淧revious work has focused almost entirely on spatial factors,鈥 said Sun. 鈥淭ime factors, such as when cardiac arrests occur and the time of day, have been largely overlooked.</p> <p>鈥淲e found that if we do take into account time, there is a significant decrease in perceived coverage of cardiac arrests.鈥</p> <p>Based on the hours of the buildings where AEDs are placed, the research revealed that AED coverage was diminished more than eight per cent during the day, 28 per cent in the evening and 48 per cent at night.</p> <p>His research also found that only some buildings in Toronto are accessible 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Many AEDs are located within office buildings, schools and recreation facilities, which tend to be open for a limited set of hours during the daytime.</p> <p>鈥淭here鈥檚 definitely a gap there,鈥 said Sun. That gap can be the difference between life and death.</p> <p>Over a period of roughly eight years, 2,440 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occurred in Toronto. Of those that occurred near an AED, approximately one in five occurred when an AED was inaccessible.</p> <p>鈥淓mergency medical services and investigators are united and willing to reposition AEDs to locations that are accessible,鈥 said Dr. Morrison, an emergency medicine specialist at St. Michael鈥檚 and collaborator in the research.</p> <p>According to Sun and Chan, the true coverage of cardiac arrests is overestimated when temporal factors are not considered. To address this issue, they have developed an optimization approach that can regain that lost coverage by optimizing AED deployment in more time-available buildings. This research was also recently presented at the AHA conference.</p> <p>鈥淲e鈥檝e developed the first mathematical optimization approach for AED deployment that considers both spatial and temporal availability to improve cardiac arrest coverage,鈥 said Chan, who is the Canada Research Chair in Novel Optimization and Analytics in Health, and leads the Centre for Healthcare Engineering (CHE) as well as the Applied Optimization Lab (AOL) at 茄子直播 Engineering.</p> <p>鈥淲e found that our model provided the largest improvement in coverage during the night, which was precisely when the largest loss in coverage due to limited temporal accessibility was experienced, as well as when survival was lowest.鈥</p> <p>Chan said he hopes this research demonstrates how critical temporal accessibility is to both the measurement of true cardiac arrest coverage as well as the decision on where to locate AEDs.</p> <p>鈥淥ur optimization model can be beneficial towards developing policies and guidelines for AED placements across the world, and ultimately to help save more lives,鈥 said Chan.</p> <p>Alongside Sun鈥檚 findings, Chan鈥檚 AOL researchers will continue to focus their attention on the city鈥檚 distribution of AEDs. The lab is analyzing the optimization of defibrillators in high-rise buildings, as well as in Toronto鈥檚 heavily frequented PATH underground walkway.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2015-11-10-debrillator-sun.jpg</div> </div> Tue, 10 Nov 2015 15:28:38 +0000 sgupta 7430 at New 鈥淭issue Velcro鈥 could help repair damaged hearts /news/new-%E2%80%9Ctissue-velcro%E2%80%9D-could-help-repair-damaged-hearts <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">New 鈥淭issue Velcro鈥 could help repair damaged hearts</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2015-08-31T11:44:21-04:00" title="Monday, August 31, 2015 - 11:44" class="datetime">Mon, 08/31/2015 - 11:44</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">New technique could go beyond heart cells. 鈥淐onceptually, there is really no limitation,鈥 says Professor Milica Radisic (Photo by Caz Zyvatkauskas) </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/tyler-irving" hreflang="en">Tyler Irving</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Tyler Irving</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/features" hreflang="en">Features</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/medicine" hreflang="en">Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cardiac" hreflang="en">Cardiac</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/engineering" hreflang="en">Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research" hreflang="en">Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">茄子直播 engineers made assembling heart tissue faster and easier </div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Engineers at the University of Toronto just made assembling functional heart tissue as easy as fastening your shoes.</p> <p>The team has created a biocompatible scaffold that allows sheets of beating heart cells to snap together just like Velcro鈩.</p> <p>鈥淥ne of the main advantages is the ease of use,鈥 says Professor <strong>Milica Radisic</strong>, who led the project. 鈥淲e can build larger tissue structures immediately before they are needed, and disassemble them just as easily. I don鈥檛 know of any other technique that gives this ability.鈥</p> <p>Growing heart muscle cells in the lab is nothing new. The problem is that too often, these cells don鈥檛 resemble those found in the body. Real heart cells grow in an environment replete with protein scaffolds and support cells that help shape them into long, lean beating machines.</p> <p>In contrast, lab-grown cells often lack these supports, and tend to be amorphous and weak. Radisic and her team focus on engineering artificial environments that more closely imitate what cells see in the body, resulting in tougher, more robust cells.</p> <p>Two years ago, Radisic and her team invented <a href="http://www.nature.com/nmeth/journal/v10/n8/full/nmeth.2524.html">the Biowire</a>, in which heart cells grew around a silk suture, imitating the way real muscle fibres grow in the heart.</p> <p>鈥淚f you think of single fibre as a 1D structure, then the next step is to create a 2D structure and then assemble those into a 3D structure,鈥 says <strong>Boyang Zhang</strong> a PhD candidate in Radisic鈥檚 lab.</p> <p>Zhang and <strong>Miles Montgomery</strong>, another PhD student in the lab, were co-lead authors on the current work, <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/7/e1500423">published Aug. 28 in <em>Science Advances</em></a>.&nbsp;The 鈥榯issue Velcro鈩⑩&nbsp;discovery has already made headlines around the world, with features in&nbsp;<em><a href="http://www.popsci.com/synthetic-heart-tissue-takes-inspiration-velcro">Popular Science</a></em>,&nbsp;<em><a href="http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2015/08/tissue-velcro-could-patch-damaged-organs/">Gizmodo</a></em>&nbsp;and more.</p> <p>Zhang and his colleagues used a special polymer called POMaC to create a 2D mesh for the cells to grow around. It somewhat resembles a honeycomb in shape, except that the holes are not symmetrical, but rather wider in one direction than in another.</p> <p>Critically, this provides a template that causes the cells to line up together. When stimulated with an electrical current, the heart muscle cells contract together, causing the flexible polymer to bend.</p> <p>Next the team bonded T-shaped posts on top of the honeycomb. When a second sheet is placed above, these posts act like tiny hooks, poking through the holes of honeycomb and clicking into place. The concept is the same as the plastic hooks and loops of Velcro鈩, which itself is based on the burrs that plants use to hitch their seeds to passing animals.</p> <p><em>The diagram below shows how T-shaped posts on one layer of a tissue scaffold pass through the holes in a second layer 鈥 similar to the hooks and loops used to fasten Velcro鈩 (Image by Raymond Cheah).</em></p> <center> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/2015-08-28-tissue-velcro.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 400px; margin: 5px;"></p> </center> <p>Amazingly, the assembled sheets start to function almost immediately.</p> <p>鈥淎s soon as you click them together, they start beating, and when we apply electrical field stimulation, we see that they beat in synchrony,鈥 says Radisic.</p> <p>The team has created layered tissues up to three sheets thick in a variety of configurations, including tiny checkerboards.</p> <p>The ultimate goal of the project is to create artificial tissue that could be used to repair damaged hearts. The modular nature of the technology should make it easier to customize the graft to each patient.</p> <p>鈥淚f you had these little building blocks, you could build the tissue right at the surgery time to be whatever size that you require,鈥 says Radisic. The polymer scaffold itself is biodegradable; within a few months it will gradually break down and be absorbed by the body.</p> <p>Best of all, the technique is not limited to heart cells.</p> <p>鈥淲e use three different cell types in this paper; cardiomyocytes, fibroblasts and endothelial cells, but conceptually there is really no limitation,鈥 says Radisic.</p> <p>That means that other researchers could use the scaffold to build layered structures that imitate a variety of tissues, livers to lungs. These artificial tissues could be used to test out new drugs in a realistic environment.</p> <p>Moreover, the ability to assemble and disassemble them at will could enable scientists to get much more detailed information on cell response than is currently possible.</p> <p>鈥淵ou could take the middle layer out, to see what the cells look like,鈥 says Radisic. 鈥淭hen you could apply a molecule that will cause differentiation or proliferation or whatever you want, to just that layer. Then you could put it back into the tissue, to see how it interacts with the remaining layers.鈥</p> <p>The next step is to test how well the system functions <em>in vivo</em>. Radisic and her team are collaborating with medical researchers in order to design implantation experiments that will take the project one step closer to the clinic.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2015-08-28-biomedical-engineering-professor-Milica-Radisic.jpg</div> </div> Mon, 31 Aug 2015 15:44:21 +0000 sgupta 7244 at