Welcome to the Cardiac Tissue Engineering Laboratory at the University of Michigan.  Our laboratory was formally established in May 2004 as a part of the Section of Cardiac Surgery.  Our primary research interest is in functional cardio-vascular tissue engineering and we are focused on understanding the re-capitulation of 3-dimensional heart muscle formation in vitro.  In addition, we find our laboratory well positioned to provide a rich training environment for undergraduate and graduate students as well as medical students as a part of their residency.  Our primary strength lies in developing new technologies that will enable tissue engineered constructs to resemble the physiology of normal myocardial tissue.  Even more important is our primary focus on creating a research environment that will allow individuals to discover and develop their research interests.

            Our initial work in functional cardiac tissue engineering started in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Dennis within the Institute of Gerontology at the University of Michigan.  The first model for 3-dimensional cardiac muscle, the cardioid model, was developed by Dr. Robert Dennis and later optimized for increased force production by a graduate student in the lab at that time.  The work was later supported by Dr. Edward Bove, Director, Section of Cardiac Surgery at the University of Michigan.  Since that time, there have been several additional models of 3-dimensional heart muscle develop in the cardiac tissue engineering laboratory.  In addition, we have initiated projects that are directed towards engineering functional heart valves, polymeric vascular grafts, cell based cardiac pumps and complete ventricles in vitro.  In addition, we have ongoing programs to induce vascularization in tissue engineered constructs and support the long term viability of the constructs with micro-perfusion systems. 

             Tissue engineering research offers an excellent opportunity for collaborative research within several disciplines.  Many other areas of research benefit from collaborative investigation, whereas the success of tissue engineering research depends on a healthy collaborative effort.  Expertise in cell biology are important to understand the behavior and modulation of cardiac cells in culture.  This is important to gain an understanding of the mechanism by which isolated cells can be stimulated to organize into functional 3-dimensional heart muscle.  Engineering principles prove to be useful in designing bioreactors to provide controlled electrical and mechanical stimuli to the 3-dimensional heart muscle.  Surgeons are our concieved end-users of this technology, and therefore their input into all aspects of design and prototyping are valuable during all stages of our research.  A sincere collaboration between disciplines is central to the success of our research and is a critical compontent of our fundamental research philosophy. 

             The work in our laboratory is well suited for researchers at various stages in their professional development.  We encourage and support the role of undergraduate students in our laboratory.  We participate in a University wide program aimed at introducing the research world to undergraduate students.  We have found immense pleasure in being able to provide undergraduate students with the research exposure that they are looking for.  Our research is well suited for graduate students both in engineering disciplines as well as in the life sciences.  The nature of the project is dependant on the field of study and we have found that students from both disciplines have performed particularly well within our research initiative.  Finally, our laboratory has found it well positioned to provide support for researchers at an advanced stage of their training.  This is typically at the post-doctoral level or towards later stages in a medical residency program.  The most important factor in working with experienced researchers is to provide an opportunity for these individuals to explore and develop new areas of research
to launch careers from.