Protecting against clotting after heart bypass surgery

Coronary bypass surgery is a challenging operation. Essentially, it’s replumbing a patient’s heart, similar to what happens if the gas line to your car's engine gets pinched; in a car shop, the mechanic simply removes the supply line and replaces it with a new one, but for a narrowed coronary artery, a cardiac surgeon will attach a tube and bypass the narrowed artery so that blood can flow around it. Fortunately, many patients have spare vessels in their body which the surgeon can harvest and use as the tube.

University of Minnesota
Robert T. Tranquillo, PhD

A new lab for improved testing

Before a new regenerative therapy can be tested on humans, researchers must show that the therapy is safe and effective in animals. Animal testing is required by the FDA before humans can undergo therapies in clinical trials, and that is why large animal models of diseases are needed.

Recombinetics, Inc.
Daniel F. Carlson, PhD
2015-2016

Manufacturing Cell Therapies using Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells in Minnesota

For years, embryonic stem (ES) cells have shown great promise in helping to stimulate our body’s own ability to heal, but there are limitations to using these cells. Oftentimes, ES cells are rejected by the body’s immune system because they are not native to the body. There is another type of stem cell, though, that lack these compatibility issues.

Minneapolis
James R. Dutton, PhD
2015-2016
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