Global Speaker Series: Ke Cheng, PhD, North Carolina State University/UNC-Chapel Hill

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The Medicine by Design Global Speaker Series invites established and emerging international leaders in regenerative medicine to engage with our extraordinary community of researchers and clinicians.

Head shot of Ke ChengMedicine by Design, in partnership with the Ontario Institute for Regenerative Medicine, is pleased to welcome Ke Cheng, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Molecular and Biomedical Sciences at North Carolina State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and associate professor in the joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The title of his talk is “Cell Therapy by Design: Biomaterials and Bioengineering Approaches for More Potent Cell Therapies”.

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This talk will be be live streamed

Abstract

No therapy currently available can reduce the size of an established scar on the heart. Cell therapy aims to alter this fixed trajectory for MI survivors: to intervene adverse heart remodelling, to reduce scar size, and to actually regenerate viable myocardial tissue. The last one and half decades witnessed the booming of stem cell therapies for multiple diseases. Our lab has been studying stem cell therapy for heart regeneration in the past decade. Efficacy in cell transplantation is hampered by many hurdles, including low rates of cell retention and engraftment, poor targeting to the injury site, and unstable cell quality during long-term storage. We have developed multiple ​bioengineering strategies to enhance the delivery of stem cells. In addition, we have been studying alternative mechanisms that can explain the extravasation of injected cells.

Biography

Dr. Ke Cheng is professor of biomedical engineering and veterinary medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State University, where he also serves as the associate director of the Comparative Medicine Institute. His research focuses on stem cells, biomaterials and nanomedicine approaches for regenerative medicine applications. More particularly, the results from the Cheng lab have translated into new therapies for cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases such as myocardial infarction and pulmonary fibrosis, including recently completed and ongoing clinical trials in human patients. The lab has been continuously supported by the National Institutes of Health and has published results in journals such as Nature Biomedical Engineering, Nature Communications, Circulation Research, ACS Nano and Theranostics.

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