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Pitt to step up regenerative medicine research Thursday, July 05, 2001 By Byron Spice, Science Editor, Post-Gazette Repairing or replacing damaged tissues by using stem cells, artificial organs or bioengineered tissues is a hot area of biomedical research, and the University of Pittsburgh hopes to turn up the heat a bit more by reorganizing its own work in that field. The McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, newly established by the Pitt medical school and UPMC Health System, will focus the efforts that are now spread throughout the medical center and help move these new technologies into clinical trials more rapidly, said institute director Alan Russell. The institute will replace the 9-year-old McGowan Center for Artificial Organ Development, including the center's research into heart assist devices, artificial lungs and bioengineered blood vessels and muscle patches in its expanded mission. The institute also will occupy the two-story building under construction on the South Side that was to house the artificial organ center. Many Pitt researchers already are involved in regenerative medicine research. "But they're all over the place and they don't necessarily talk to each other," Russell said. The South Side building isn't big enough to house them all, but the institute can play a key role in improving communication and collaboration, he added. The McGowan institute will be modeled after the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, now one of the leading recipients of National Cancer Institute funding, Russell said. Russell, a biochemist by training, is chairman of chemical and petroleum engineering within the Pitt engineering department and associate director of the university's Center for Biotechnology and Bioengineering. His research specialty is bonding biological molecules to plastic and nonorganic materials, a key technology for many biomedical devices and systems. Russell also is executive director of the Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative, a group that cooperatively tries to increase tissue engineering research and commercial development throughout the region. Dr. Bartley Griffith, chief of cardiothoracic surgery at UPMC, had directed the McGowan organ center since its inception in 1992. He will serve as medical director of the McGowan institute. "My passion for the McGowan center has not waned in any way," Griffith said. But continuing to pursue a purely mechanical approach to artificial organ development faced limitations. "The science is not there to support it. We needed to move to cell-based technologies," and to tap the expertise of biochemists, he added. The field of regenerative medicine includes research into stem cells, a type of cell within the body that is capable of producing a variety of specialized cell types necessary to regenerate tissue. Much speculation and controversy recently has surrounded proposed research into human embryonic stem cells, a type of cell found only in embryos that supposedly could produce almost all types of cells in the body. Pitt researchers are not yet involved in human embryonic stem cell studies, but are active in studying adult-derived stem cells -- cells normally found in the body that theoretically may have as much regenerative ability as embryonic stem cells. The McGowan center was established with the help of a $1 million grant from the late William S. McGowan, who underwent a successful heart transplant at UPMC Presbyterian in 1987 when he was chief executive officer at MCI Communications. The building that will house the McGowan Institute is scheduled for completion early next year on the former South Side site of LTV Steel. Money for the 45,000-square-foot building is coming from the McGowan Charitable Fund, Heinz Endowments, the R.K. Mellon Foundation and the state Department of Community Development and Economic Development. http://www.post-gazette.com/healthscience/20010705mirm0705p2.asp * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn