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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Brandon Johnson
Date: March 29th, 2016
Time: 4:00 PM
Location: Emory University, WMB 7115
Thesis Committee:
Young-Sup Yoon, MD, PhD (Thesis Advisor)
Andres Garcia, PhD
Manu Platt, PhD
Changwon Park, PhD
Ho-Wook Jun, PhD
Title: Increased engraftment of highly angiogenic CD31+ cell subpopulations through encapsulation in a self-assembled nanomatrix gel
Abstract: Peripheral artery disease (PAD) affects 5.9% of adults ≥ 40 years of age, remaining largely undetected and progresses into critical limb ischemia (CLI), a state of unrelenting rest pain and ulceration. PreviousFor patients without revascularization options, amputation and mortality rates are roughly 40% and 20%, respectively. Our laboratory is proposing to develop a novel cell therapy using highly angiogenic peripheral blood (PB) derived CD31+ cell subpopulations combined with self-assembled peptide amphiphile (PA) nanomatrix gels for treating CLI. Current cell therapies suffer from contamination with inhibitory cell types, undefined isolation methods, and/or low engraftment and retention. To address this, we will analyze various PB-CD31+ cell subpopulations for their lineage composition and contribution to revascularization. Futhermore, Self-assembled nanomatrix gels have also been shown to provide a cyotprotective niche and increase cellular retention after transplantation. We hypothesize that the various regenerative effects of CD31+ cells can be discreetly delineated through CD14 expression and encapsulation in PA nanomatrix gels will increase retention and viabiliy of cells when injected into ischemic mouse hind limbs. The combination of highly angiogenic PB-CD31+CD14- cells and PA nanomatrix hydrogels will provide a readily available, effective alternative therapy for CLI patients currently without treatment options. Information obtained in this study will likely impact the development of future cellular therapies for multiple cardiovascular diseases.
