[CCoE Notice] BME seminar: Experimental Frameworks for Analysis of Heart Valve Mechanobiology

[Grayson, Audrey A]

[https://www.egr.uh.edu/sites/ccoe.egr.uh.edu/files/images/logos/Tertiary_Biomedical_color.jpg]

Seminar

Experimental Frameworks for Analysis of Heart Valve Mechanobiology

Friday, October 2, 2015
SEC 205: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Speaker: Dr. K. Jane Grande-Allen

Bio: Jane Grande-Allen is the Isabel Cameron Professor of Bioengineering at Rice University.  Her research group investigates the structure-function-environment relationship of heart valves through bioengineering analyses of the extracellular matrix and cell mechanobiology. Their goal in characterizing the mechanisms of heart valve remodeling is to derive novel therapies that can be used to treat patients earlier in the disease process.  Her research has been funded by NIH, NSF, the American Heart Association, and the March of Dimes, and is described in more than 100 peer-reviewed publications.  Dr. Grande-Allen received a BA in Mathematics and Biology from Transylvania University in 1991 and a PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Washington in 1998.  After performing postdoctoral research in Biomedical Engineering at the Cleveland Clinic, she joined Rice University in 2003 and was promoted to full professor in 2013.  Dr. Grande-Allen is also a Fellow of the American Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering, the Biomedical Engineering Society, and the American Heart Association. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Biomedical Engineering Society.
[cid:3BAF046F-3C4D-42FE-9877-10FAB3C7CE5F]Abstract: Heart valve disease has devastating consequences for the health and survival of its victims. Valve disease is widely prevalent in our society, with valve replacement or repair in almost 100,000 people in the United States and 275,000 people worldwide each year.  Myxomatous, or “floppy” disease of the mitral valve alone affects up to 5% of the population, and calcific aortic valve disease is a major problem associated with aging, obesity, diabetes, and smoking. The treatment of these conditions represents substantial health care costs.  Despite these statistics, the basic biology of heart valves is sparsely studied and barely understood and there are no cures for valve disease other than expensive surgical repairs or replacements, nor any medications specific for valve disease. The focus of my research group is to comprehensively characterize and perturb the valvular tissue and cell phenotypes in normal and diseased heart valves, as the first major step in finding the causes of heart valve diseases, in identifying the early stages and patients at risk, in developing drugs for its treatment, and for ultimately reducing the incidence of the disease in the population.  Our research has helped to define the nascent field of valve mechanobiology and furthermore developed tools such as bioreactors to make these research studies possible.  These investigations have covered the distribution and regulation of extracellular matrix within the valve and how these are governed by the mechanical loads experienced by the cells within native valves, engineered valve tissues, or cells grown in 2D cultures. More recently, we have begun to develop platforms


(PIZZA AND REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED!)




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