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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=Windows-1252"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 14px; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><div><br></div><span id="OLK_SRC_BODY_SECTION"><div dir="ltr"><div><div class="gmail_quote"><div style="word-wrap:break-word;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:14px;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span><div><div class="h5"><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div class="gmail_quote"><div style="word-wrap:break-word;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:14px;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);text-align:center"><span style="font-size:15px"><font face="Times"><br></font></span></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);text-align:center"><span style="font-size:15px"><font face="Times"><br></font></span></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);text-align:center"><span style="font-size:15px"><font face="Times"><img width="344" height="41" src="https://www.egr.uh.edu/sites/ccoe.egr.uh.edu/files/images/logos/Tertiary_Biomedical_color.jpg" style="margin-right:0px"><b><br></b></font></span></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);text-align:center"><span style="font-size:15px"><font face="Times"><b> </b><b> </b></font></span></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);text-align:center"><span style="font-size:15px"><font face="Times"><b><div style="display:inline!important"><b>Seminar</b></div></b></font></span></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);text-align:center"><span style="font-size:15px"><font face="Times"><b style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><div style="display:inline!important"><b> </b></div></b><b>Experimental Frameworks for Analysis of Heart Valve Mechanobiology </b></font></span></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);text-align:center"><b><font color="#ff0000" style="font-size:15px" face="Times"><br></font></b></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);text-align:center"><b><font color="#ff0000" style="font-size:15px" face="Times">Friday, October 2, 2015</font></b></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);text-align:center"><b><font color="#ff0000" style="font-size:15px" face="Times">SEC 205: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM</font></b></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><b style="font-size:15px"><font face="Times"><br></font></b></div><div><span style="font-size:15px"><font face="Times"><b style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">Speaker: </b><b>Dr. K. Jane Grande-Allen </b></font></span></div><div><b style="font-size:15px"><font face="Times"><br></font></b></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times"><b>Bio</b>: <span style="color:black">Jane Grande-Allen is
the Isabel Cameron Professor of Bioengineering at Rice University.<span> </span>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.<span> </span></span>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.<span> </span>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.<span>
</span>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.<span> </span>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.<span><u></u><u></u></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><img width="146" height="218" src="cid:3BAF046F-3C4D-42FE-9877-10FAB3C7CE5F" align="left" hspace="9" alt="Description: Main HD:Users:Kirill:Dropbox:DOC:UH:K. Jane Grande-Allen:110623_Grande_Fitlow_016_smaller.jpg" type="image/png"><font face="Times"><b><span style="line-height:107%">Abstract</span></b><span style="line-height:107%">: 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 </span></font></p></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:15px"><font face="Times"><br></font></span><div><p style="margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-left:0in;direction:ltr;word-break:normal"><font color="#783f04" face="Times"><i style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220);font-size:15px">(PIZZA AND REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED!)</i></font></p></div></div></div></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></span></div></div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></span></body></html>