Bioengineering strategies for blood diseases and regeneration

Cardiovascular diseases are common and deadly. It is estimated that the U.S. has limited blood supply for those that require transfusions (there are 5.6M blood donations each year in the U.S., but an estimated 14.6M more are required) that are needed for acute injuries or chronic diseases. The aim of this grant proposal is to perform proof-of-concept experiments aimed at the development of blood in vitro and to engineer an interspecies chimeric pig as a platform for the generation of human blood. Therefore, our goal is to use nonhuman primate stem cells to engineer chimeric pigs to rescue a genetically modified pig that lacks blood. We have assembled a world leading research group to provide complementary expertise to achieve our goals. Our preliminary data uses established state-of-the-art technologies to provide a platform for our proposed studies. We believe that the proposed studies will revolutionize the treatment of blood diseases and have a tremendous impact on our society.