Four graduate students at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering have received American Heart Association (AHA) predoctoral fellowships, which support the next generation of heart health researchers. The program provides funding and mentorship to outstanding doctoral students who are committed to advancing the fight against heart disease and stroke.

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Five graduate students and two recent graduates from the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering received competitive fellowships from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) in 2022. 

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Vince Lee, Sara Trbojevic, Kevin Steiger, Michelle Karabin, Brittany Egnot and Christopher Cover, graduate students in the University of Pittsburgh Department of Bioengineering, have received F30 and F31 Predoctoral Fellowships from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The competitive fellowships allow graduate students in the health sciences to develop their research in aging and Alzheimer’s disease while earning their doctoral degrees.

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University of Pittsburgh graduate student Madeline Cramer received an F31 award from the National Institutes of Health for her regenerative medicine research that may help improve outcomes in cardiac disease. Cramer studies bioengineering in the Swanson School of Engineering and works in the lab of Stephen Badylak, professor of surgery at Pitt and deputy director of the McGowan Institute of Regenerative Medicine. 

Badylak’s lab focuses on the use of biologic scaffolds composed of extracellular matrix (ECM) to facilitate functional tissue and organ reconstruction. Present within all tissues and organs, ECM provides essential structural support and also initiates biochemical and biomechanical cues. Cramer’s project will look at myocardial infarction (MI) and examine how a specific protein embedded within the ECM may affect the underlying mechanisms behind the scaffold’s therapeutic response.

The University of Pittsburgh’s Dr. William Federspiel was selected as the recipient of the 2019 Carnegie Science Award for Life Sciences, one of 16 categories announced March 13 by the Carnegie Science Center. The award recognizes and honors scientific advances in new and innovative biomedical and life sciences endeavors that benefit the economy, health, or societal well-being of the region.

Stephen Badylak, D.V.M., Ph.D., M.D., professor of surgery and bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh and deputy director of the McGowan Institute of Regenerative Medicine, has been named among 148 renowned academic inventors elected as fellows of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).

Election to NAI Fellow status is the highest professional distinction accorded to academic inventors. To be chosen for this honor, fellows must demonstrate a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society.

Dr. Stephen Badylak of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine discusses how flatworms can help advance regenerative medicine with NPR.

CBTP mentor Dr. Stephen Badylak and his collaborator Dr. Peter Rubin received the Health Care Heroes award from the Pittsburgh Business Times for their work with tissue regeneration that is having a real-world impact on injured veterans. 

The University of Pittsburgh Department of Bioengineering selected Ali Behrangzade, a graduate student in the Soft Tissue Biomechanics Lab, for its Leonard H. Berenfield Graduate Fellowship in Bioengineering. This competitive fellowship is awarded to one student each academic year.

Recipients of this award receive one year of funding for cardiovascular research performed in Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering. They retain the title of Berenfield Fellow throughout their PhD studies and occasionally meet with the award’s donor.

Soroosh Sanatkhani, a bioengineering graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh, was named the 2018 Wes Pickard Fellow by the Department of Bioengineering. Recipients of this award are selected by the department chair and chosen based on academic merit. 

Sanatkhani is involved in multiple cardiovascular research projects under the supervision of Sanjeev G. Shroff, Distinguished Professor and Gerald E. McGinnis Chair of Bioengineering at Pitt, and Prahlad G. Menon, adjunct assistant professor of bioengineering. His primary research is focused on hemodynamics indices and shape-based models of the left atrial appendage (LAA) of the heart to enhance stroke prediction in atrial fibrillation. In 2017, he was selected as the Swanson School’s Berenfield Fellow, which helped fund foundational elements of his current research.

The American Society for Artificial Internal Organs (ASAIO) selected Alexandra May as a finalist for the Willem Kolff Award at its 64th annual meeting. The award, named after the late Dutch physician who invented the original artificial kidney, recognizes the top abstracts at each annual meeting.

A team of researchers at the University of Pittsburgh believes that a naturally occurring hormone, relaxin, can reverse some of the effects of aging on the heart to reduce these risks through inhibiting a chronic, age-associated inflammatory response termed “inflammaging”.

The study, “Relaxin reverses inflammatory and immune signals in aged hearts” (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0190935) was led by Guy Salama, professor of medicine at Pitt, and Brian Martin, his graduate student researcher from the Swanson School of Engineering’s Department of Bioengineering.

Jillian Tengood Hillman, former BioEngineering PhD student and current post doctoral fellow at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, has been awarded the prestigious American Heart Association post doctoral fellowship award. Her proposal, entitled "Endothelial cell functionalization and application for magnetically targeted cell therapy of in-stent restenosis" will explore the use of magnetic targeting for endothelial cell delivery as an anti-restenosis therapy in patients with atherosclerosis. Congratulations Jillian!

Nate Remlinger has accepted a position at ACell, Inc. in Columbia, MD as a Product Development Engineer. His primary responsibilities will be to enhance the design history files for ACell's product, Matristem, as well as explore new potential markets and uses for Urinary Bladder Matrix (UBM). Nate will be developing testing methods, procedures and prototype design verification testing for products. Nate will also be responsible for in vitro and in vivo studies, as well as investigating design changes and failure modes. Nate has stated his graduate work (and dissertation) has greatly prepared him for this position. He has been able to hit the ground running with such a solid background in the science behind their ECM technology. Congratulations to Nate on his wonderful success and the start of his career!

Robert Allen was awarded first place after his poster presentation in Tissue Engineering Research Category at the 2013 MIRM Retreat. Robert's poster included his research on the " Long Term in vivo Study of Rapidly Degradable Synthetic Arterial Graft". Robert was chosen first out of over 60 posters in this competition judged by a pool of faculty members.

Congratulations on your outstanding efforts and success Robert!

Noah Johnson and Robert Allen won 3rd place in the Elevator Pitch Competition at the 2013 MIRM Retreat.

This was a competition to give a presentation advocating to commercialize your research as a business opportunity. Overall 9 teams competed and Robert and Noah took 3rd.

Congratulations Noah and Robert!

Congratulations to Robert Allen on his paper entitled, "Long Term in vivo Study of Rapidly Degradable Synthetic Arterial Grafts" which was nominated as an outstanding contribution to the Society For Biomaterials' 2013 Annual Meeting. The Education and Professional Development Committee of the Society has awarded Robert with a STAR (Student Travel Achievement Recognition).

Congratulations on receiving this wonderful honor Robert!

Nathaniel Remlinger, PhD candidate, recently had the success of his article titled, "Procedure for Decellularization of Porcine Heart by Retrograde Coronary Perfusion" being published on the Journal of Visualized Experiments website. Nathaniel is a 5 ^th year PhD candidate in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh. Nathaniel's research is primarily focused on Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, specifically geared towards solutions for pediatric congenital heart defects and my thesis will be centered around the development of contractile myocardial tissue from extracellular matrix scaffolds. Take a moment to review his astounding published article in the attached link. Congratulations Nathaniel! Visit the Article here: http://www.jove.com/video/50059

Devin Nelson recently accepted a new position in Arizona working for W.L. Gore as their Product Specialist. In this position he will oversee the fitness for use of one of their medical devices. This will involve seeing that all the engineering design, manufacturing, regulatory, and clinical aspects of the device are being appropriately carried out. The device he will be working on is a septal occluder that is used to close atrial septal defects in the heart. Nelson's position will also involve travel to meet with physicians that use the product for troubleshooting, education, and as a way to understand what design changes may be needed to optimize the performance of the device. We wish Devin the best of luck in his exciting new career path. Congratulations Devin!

Sarah Beckman has recently accepted a position at Cincinnati Children's Hospital as a postdoctoral fellow. She will be working in the lab of Dr. Josh Waxman. Here she will be studying the cardiac development, specifically mechanisms that affect the heart size in zebra fish. We wish Sarah the best of luck in her exciting new career path. Congratulations Sarah!

The CBTP program would like to welcome our newest Trainees:

• Kory Blose
• Richard Jeffries
• Rosa Rodriguez
• Mark Langhans