Each year nearly 900,000 people in North America alone suffer from myocardial infarction. Tissue engineering may offer alternative treatment options or suitable models for studies of normal and pathological cardiac tissue function in vitro. Conventional tissue engineering approaches are limited by inadequate oxygen supply, lack of physical stimuli and absence of multiple cell types characteristic of the native myocardium.

My research program consists of several different projects that all fall under umbrella of cardiac tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. We are focused on pursuing molecular mechanisms governing the formation of contractile cardiac tissue in vitro as well as on practical strategies for treatment of myocardial infarction and heart failure through development of new biomaterials. We pursue the research programs alone (e.g. advanced bioreactors and cell tri-culture) or in collaboration with other PIs (e.g. microfluidic separation of heart cells).