Muscle / en 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