Cardiovascular bioengineering

Cell cultures are necessary for: (1) the discovery of cardiovascular therapeutics, and (2) the manufacturing of cell-derived therapeutics, such as tissue engineered vascular and cardiac grafts, cell and gene therapy (CGT), or extracellular vesicles. However, current cell cultures poorly model cardiovascular form and function, so that bioengineered cell culture platforms and other ex vivo models are required to better predict therapeutic efficacy and to more efficiently manufacture more effective cell-derived therapeutics.

This field includes bioengineered ischaemic heart grafts which are undergoing testing in pigs in September/October 2024 in collaboration with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI), cerebral vascular models, profiling of cardiovascular extracellular vesicles, and endothelial stem cells and angiogenic CGTs. Critical challenges in cardiovascular bioengineering include cardiovascular mechanobiology, endothelial inflammation, functional grafts.