Research Areas - Biomedical
BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
At the Schulich School of Engineering, researchers in all engineering disciplines collaborate with those in medicine, science and kinesiology in the multidisciplinary field where engineering principles are combined with biology, chemistry and physics to solve complex medical problems.
Two primary research groups work in specilaized areas. The Pharmaceutical Production Research Facility (PPRF) is the primary bioengineering facility within the department. Researchers are exploring the potential of stem cells while building on their expertise in pharmaceutical scale-up, modeling cell behaviour, and the development of bioreactor-related technologies. The Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Research Laboratory combines engineering principles with cell biology, molecular biology, and biochemistry concepts to investigate the effect of forces on human cell physiology for elucidation of disease mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets.
Biomedical Engineering Faculty
Leo Behie, Ayo Jeje, Michael Kallos, Kristina Rinker, Arin Sen
Stem Cells
The capacity of stem cells to divide and replace specialized cell types makes them very desirable for the treatment of chronic conditions, such as Parkinson's disease and diabetes, which are caused by the death of specialized cells in specific tissues and are currentlydeemed to be incurable. In order for stem cell transplantation to offer cures it is necessary to find methods to grow large quantities of stem cells in a reproducible, clinically acceptable manner.
Researchers at the Schulich School of Engineering are recognized leaders in developing scale-up protocols for the production of neural stem cells to be used in the treatment of neural disorders. They are finding ways to grow mammary epithelial stem cells as part of a program to discover therapeutic targets for breast cancer; and are developing new approaches for the production of pancreatic cells aimed at treating diabetes. These researchers are also growing other tissue-specific stem cells to be used in tissue engineering applications such as, the generation of artificial livers, cartilage and heart muscle.
Neural Stem Cells
The use of fetal cells is mired in ethical controversy and there is an inadequate supply. Neural stem cells generated in bioreactors offer a more ethically acceptable alternative. Researchers at the Schulich School have developed methods to generate these cells in large computer-controlled bioreactors, for the development of effective treatment options for Parkinson's disease.
Mesenchymal Stem Cells
Mesenchymal stem cells are believed to respond to injury by dividing and creating bone, cartilage, muscle, tendon, ligament and other connective tissues. Researchers are developing and optimizing culture methods to expand these cell populations derived from bone marrow. Through the generation of new media and suspension culture bioreactor protocols, the current goal of this project is to generate enough cells for preclinical trials aimed at treating multiple sclerosis.
Pancreatic Stem Cells
Two approaches to address the cause of type I diabetes are being researched. The first is to expand populations of endocrine cells derived directly from cadaveric pancreases. The other involves expanding a recently discovered cell subpopulation within the pancreas, which exhibits stem cell properties and has been shown to give rise to endocrine cells in culture. It is anticipated that the scale-up research being conducted here will contribute to a diabetes cure.
Hepatic Oval Cells
Hepatic oval cells are a small subpopulation of cells found in the liver that exhibit stem cell properties and are believed to play a major role in liver regeneration. Development of methods for expanding these cell populations will lead to clinical therapies for liver disorders.
Embryonic Stem Cells
Embryonic stem cells, when cultured outside the body, retain the capacity to generate fully functional cells from any tissue. However, clinical implementation is hampered by the poorly defined, small-scale culture methods currently used generate large numbers of embryonic cells and their derivatives. The objective is to expand and differentiate embryonic stem cells in a controlled bioprocess with the aim of generating functional bone and cartilage cells.
Mammary Epithelial Stem Cells
Mammary epithelial stem cells are adult stem cells capable of recapitulating the mammary gland throughout a female's reproductive lifespan. Researchers are finding ways to isolate and scale-up the production of both normal mammary epithelial stem cells and their cancerous counterparts so that they can be further studied in an effort to find therapeutic targets for breast cancer.
Leuko-depletion
Leukocytes or white blood cells, when present in whole blood and blood products, are responsible for a variety of adverse side effects associated with transfusion.
The Canadian Blood Services removes leukocytes from blood products prior to transfusion in a filtration process called leuko-depletion. During processing, a significant amount of the blood products are sometimes discarded for a variety of reasons; one of these is the failure to meet quality assurance. Therefore, finding ways to decrease losses associated with filtration is important. Research in the Schulich School of Engineering focuses on explaining and improving the leuko-depletion process and the filtration device that is used, in order to reduce losses.
Vascular Bioengineering
To improve understanding of cardiovascular disease and factors complicating treatment, researchers investigate the effect of blood flow and the biochemical environment upon endothelial cells, which line the arteries. Vascular bioengineering research incorporates design and implementation of cultivation systems to expose cells to physiological flow, surface evaluation by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry and molecular analysis.
Vascular Cell Experimental Models
In vitro experimental models of the human vasculature are being developed to investigate the molecular mechanisms involved in the protection or contribution to cardiovascular disease imparted by blood flow and pressure. The experiments isolate the target tissue/vessel from the physiological effects of other organs and tissues allowing each variable to be altered separately, including proteins that regulate gene expression. These models may serve as good systems to determine efficacy and side effects for pharmaceutical or gene therapies.
Vascular Inflammation
Cardiovascular disease has been shown to be an inflammation-dependent disorder. Examining the action of biochemicals under inflammatory conditions under both healthy flow (disease protective), disturbed flow (disease prone), and static conditions may elucidate protective functions.