Cardiac Tissue Engineering

Cell-based therapies for cardiac repair have great promise as new therapies for heart disease. However, when the cells are transplanted into ischemic tissue, the vast majority undergoes apoptotic and necrotic cell death due to limited nutrients. We are exploring bioengineered cardiac tissue constructs as an alternative to direct cell injection. The constructs can be seeded with cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells and stromal cells to facilitate the formation of vascular networks. These pre-fabricated constructs can also preconditioned (e.g. by strain, hypoxia, heat shock etc.) to improve survival after implantation.

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