Cardiovascular diseases associated with limited functioning of the heart are reported to cause the highest rate of mortality, with the risk factors of aging, smoking, overweight, and inadequate exercise in both industrialized and developing countries. Such factors can lead to mechanical stimuli in the form of pressure overload and conditions can progressively result in irreversible defects on the heart. In addition, more than 17 million people are suffering from heart failure worldwide, and over 50% of these patients do not effectively respond to current pharmacological therapies. Therefore, heart-related dysfunctions remain a significant clinical challenge. Surgical procedures, angioplasty, valve reconstruction/replacement, and heart transplantation have been clinically utilized to address this challenge, however, with limited success only. When medical and surgical treatments are not optimal in patients with heart failure and coronary artery diseases, cardiac transplant remains the only solution. However, heart-transplanted individuals face lifelong immunosuppression, at the expense of hypertension, diabetes, and renal failure. Thus, novel and personalized approaches must be developed for heart diseases to compensate for complications associated with current clinical strategies.
At BIREL, we aim at developing procedures for decellularized ECM scaffolds and evaluating decellularization efficiency in terms of residual nuclear content and structural properties. We expect that the bioartificial scaffolds formed can be functionalized with patient’s own material and utilized in regenerative engineering.

Source: Ozlu et al., The International Journal of Artificial Organs 2019, Vol. 42(12) 757–764