• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Tuesday, October 7, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS

Regeneration and improves functionality after a heart attack

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
October 29, 2013
in NEWS
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram
 
There are an estimated 785,000 new heart attack cases in the United States each year, with no established treatment for repairing the resulting damage to cardiac tissue. Lead researcher Karen Christman, a professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, said the gel forms a scaffold in damaged areas of the heart, encouraging new cell growth and repair. Because the gel is made from heart tissue taken from pigs, the damaged heart responds positively, creating a harmonious environment for rebuilding, rather than setting off a chain of adverse immune system defenses.
“While more people today are initially surviving heart attacks, many will eventually go into heart failure,” said Christman.  “Our data show that this hydrogel can increase cardiac muscle and reduce scar tissue in the region damaged by the heart attack, which prevents heart failure.  These results suggest this may be a novel minimally invasive therapy to prevent heart failure after a heart attack in humans.”
 
The hydrogel is made from cardiac connective tissue that is stripped of heart muscle cells through a cleansing process, freeze-dried and milled into powder form, and then liquefied into a fluid that can be easily injected into the heart. Once it hits body temperature, the liquid turns into a semi-solid, porous gel that encourages cells to repopulate areas of damaged cardiac tissue and to improve heart function, according to Christman. The material is also biocompatible; animals treated with the hydrogel suffered no adverse affects such as inflammation, lesions or arrhythmic heart beating, according to safety experiments conducted as part of the study. Further tests with human blood samples showed that the gel had no affect on the blood’s clotting ability, which underscores the biocompatibility of the treatment for use in humans.
 
San Diego-based startup, Ventrix, Inc., which Christman co-founded, has licensed the technology for development and commercialization. Christman also serves on the company’s board. “We are excited and encouraged by the results of the study leading to a novel regenerative medicine solution for cardiac repair. The technology offers the potential for a longer and better quality of life for millions of heart attack sufferers,” said Adam Kinsey, the CEO of Ventrix.
 
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by UC San Diego. The original article was written by Catherine Hockmuth, UC San Diego. IMAGE Credit: Karen Christman, UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.

 

Tags: Bioengineering
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Reelin: A Promising Protein for Gut Repair and Depression Treatment

October 7, 2025
blank

FIU Cybersecurity Experts Unveil Midflight Defense Mechanism to Prevent Drone Hijacking

October 7, 2025

UBCO Study Reveals Sex Education Falls Short for 2SLGBTQIA+ Students

October 7, 2025

Covalent Organic Frameworks: Building Infinite Metal–Organic Structures

October 7, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • Sperm MicroRNAs: Crucial Mediators of Paternal Exercise Capacity Transmission

    885 shares
    Share 354 Tweet 221
  • New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    98 shares
    Share 39 Tweet 25
  • New Study Indicates Children’s Risk of Long COVID Could Double Following a Second Infection – The Lancet Infectious Diseases

    94 shares
    Share 38 Tweet 24
  • Ohio State Study Reveals Protein Quality Control Breakdown as Key Factor in Cancer Immunotherapy Failure

    76 shares
    Share 30 Tweet 19

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Reelin: A Promising Protein for Gut Repair and Depression Treatment

FIU Cybersecurity Experts Unveil Midflight Defense Mechanism to Prevent Drone Hijacking

UBCO Study Reveals Sex Education Falls Short for 2SLGBTQIA+ Students

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 63 other subscribers
  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.