How Our Research Can Help You

Increasingly smaller and more advanced artificial heart devices, which we help to design and test, sustain many people as they await donor hearts.

A collagen "scaffold" helps to heal wounds, tendons, and ligaments by drawing healthy young cells to the injury site, and patients' own stem cells from their blood, bone marrow, or muscle are used to treat heart failure.

Learn more about our research towards these and other treatments:

Biomaterials—How They Can Help

In the area of biomaterial scaffold development, McGowan Institute researchers are working to use biodegradable materials – both natural and synthetic – with appropriate mechanical properties that can be modified to incorporate biological activity.

Cancer

We know that stem cells give rise to healthy, new tissues. But what if some stem cells go bad, and give rise to cancerous tissues? We're thinking about new ways to treat cancer that may stop it from ever coming back.

Facial Reconstruction

Facial disfigurement from disease or trauma is much more than a cosmetic issue, it's also a quality of life issue. We're working on ways to regrow jaw bones, teeth, and other tissues.

Heart & Blood Vessels

In addition to our partnership with the UPMC Artificial Heart Program, we're finding new ways to treat heart failure and grow blood vessels in the lab.

Liver Support

McGowan Institute research will provide assistance while new therapies incorporating stem cells, gene therapy, or engineered tissues are employed to repair or replace the damaged liver.

Muscle Tissue

Satisfactory repair of a severed muscle relies upon good apposition of the cut ends with regeneration of the motor nerve branches serving the muscle.

Neurological Disorders

Cells of the spinal cord and brain don't regrow well on their own once they've been damaged, leading to devastating losses of function. But regenerative medicine is up to the challenge.

Orthopaedic Injuries

Injuries to bone, muscle, cartilage, and tendons were some of the first problems addressed by regenerative medicine.

Pancreatic and Diabetes Research

In type 1 diabetes, the body attacks its own insulin-producing cells. Our challenges are to stop that attack and replace the missing cells.

Respiratory Assistance - Lung

We're working on new ways to add oxygen to blood that are kinder to airways than traditional ventilators and can be used in the field by combat medical personnel and paramedics.

Urinary Tract

Researchers are successfully looking into the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of pelvic organ prolapse and urinary incontinence.