Dedicated students, distinguished colleagues and dear friends,

Happy Friday!

When I was at Johns Hopkins University over a decade ago, I served as a member of the plenary team called the Hopkins Heart. The goal was to establish collaboration among Hopkins’ physicians, engineers, systems scientists and others to build the first permanent artificial heart — an electromechanical system that could pump 35 million times a year for a decade or longer.

At the time, in 2011, there were about 5 million people in the U.S. at different stages of heart failure. The number of heart donations had stagnated due to automobile seatbelt laws and motorcycle helmet laws that saved lives and reduced the sudden death of potential heart donors! Our early-stage 12-member team consisted of cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, heart transplant physicians, engineers, computer scientists and tissue growth researchers. As part of “data and alternatives” discussions, many speakers with domain knowledge across related fields were invited to highlight the contributions of their areas of research. I recall how impressive the advances in tissue growth seemed at the time, and yet, we hadn’t seen anything compared to the remarkable progress that has been made today.

Naturally, my interest piqued when I learned that Dr. Ryan Gilbert, the new chair of our Linda and Bipin Doshi Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, is taking the challenge of tissue engineering to a whole new level. His laboratory focuses on developing biomaterials to provide next-level solutions for tissue regeneration, drug and gene delivery for pharmaceutical applications and agricultural processes. In Dr. Gilbert’s words, “… the laboratory leverages the process of electrospinning to create polymeric fibers with diameters on the nano- to micron-scale.” For reference, the diameter of these polymeric fibers are similar to the diameter of an individual human hair.

These fibers are then used as scaffolding to align and orient tissue regeneration for recovery following an injury. “We create aligned, fibrous topographies to direct the regeneration of the injured peripheral nervous system and the injured spinal cord.” These fiber scaffolds can be used to deliver drugs or genes to affected areas or damaged organs, accelerating the recovery or regeneration of tissues. “Such fibers are being developed to treat the injured spinal cord, eye diseases and chronic skin wounds.”

Dr. Gilbert and his team have also developed poly(pro-drug) polymers from curcumin, an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory molecule found in turmeric, a natural medicinal compound, to create new hydrophilic compounds. Such compounds are then used to create thin films, fibers and particles that release hydrophilic curcumin at sites of injury. “Such curcumin polymers have been applied as electrode coatings to improve electrode biocompatibility when electrodes are placed into the brain. A recent study demonstrated that thin films of poly(pro-curcumin) polymer reduced inflammation and improved functional recovery following spinal cord injury in a preclinical model of injury.”

The science and art of tissue engineering, organ repair and new organ growth have come a long way from my years at Hopkins, thanks to the engagement of engineering minds in addressing modern medical challenges. I, for one, have no doubt that the collective genius of researchers such as Dr. Gilbert and his able team will continue to develop the next-level solutions to improve the delivery of health care. 

Warmly,

-Mo.
 
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Mohammad Dehghani, PhD
Chancellor
mo@mst.edu | 573-341-4116

206 Parker Hall, 300 West 13th Street, Rolla, MO 65409-0910
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