Title:
Bio-airway Research Offering New Concepts in Health (BRONCH) Partnership: Bioengineering Artificial Human Airways
Date:
Friday, January 27, 2012 from 2:00pm
Location:
E3-262 EITC Building, University of Manitoba Fort Garry Campus
Speaker:
Dr. Andrew Halayko
Professor and Canada Research Chair in Airway Cell and Molecular Biology
Departments of Physiology and Internal Medicine
University of Manitoba
Abstract:
Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) pose a marked economic and health burden worldwide. Asthma rates are increasing despite greater use of prescribed drugs and for COPD current medications offer only palliative effect. The testing and development of new therapies requires high throughput capacity with relevant human model systems. Establishing a research platform that meets this need is essential to create a conduit for translating fundamental findings into effective clinical trials. A major limiting factor in this process is the unpredictability in reproducing findings from small animal models in humans. To overcome this obstacle readily available, easily manipulated tissue engineered human model systems of physiological relevance are needed; this presentation will provide an overview of our newly launched work to meet his need. We have established a regional research and training partnership to support development of fully functional 3-D human “Bio-airways” containing differentiated human airway epithelial, fibroblast and smooth muscle cells for discovery research and drug testing. Currently we are establishing processes and chemical conditions to produce electrospun nanofibrous tubular scaffolds of defined mechanical properties to support growth and function of transplanted human airway smooth muscle cells. We have established a prototype scaffold manufacturing facility and are testing the suitability of different scaffolds to meet out long term needs. The presentation will present work to date in this area and will outline future directions in which effective liaison with the bioengineering community will be essential for success.
Speaker Bio:
Dr. Andrew Halayko is a Professor in the Departments of Physiology, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics & Child Health, and Immunology at the University of Manitoba, and holds a Tier II Canada Research
Chair in Airway Cell and Molecular Biology. He is Leader of the Biology of Breathing Group in the Manitoba Institute of Child Health, and Fellowship Research Director in the Section of Respiratory Diseases.
Dr. Halayko’s research has been instrumental in building current concepts of the role of airway smooth muscle in asthma pathogenesis. He directs a translational research program on mechanisms for airway inflammation, remodeling, and hyperresponsiveness – current interests focus on: (1) caveolins in lung mesenchymal cell function, (2) the potential for inhibitors associated with the mevalonate cascade to treat obstructive airway disease, (3) the effects of statins on viral infection of human airway epithelial cells, (4) S100 proteins in allergic airway inflammation and steroid-refractory asthma, and (5) developing bio-engineered airway and blood vessels populated with human somatic and /or stems cells to facilitate translation of discovery research evidence to clinical testing.
In his career Dr. Halayko has over 130 peer-reviewed articles, is Editorial Board member for three international journals: American Journal of Physiology (Lung Cellular Molecular Physiology); Pulmonary Pharmacology & Therapeutics; and, Pulmonary Medicine. He currently supervises 4 postdoctoral fellows and 4 graduate students and holds funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Manitoba Health Research Council, National Sanitarium Association, and industry partners. He has been principal applicant or co-applicant on 5 major Canada Foundation for Innovation infrastructure awards, and is currently co-leading development of two core research platforms at U of Manitoba: (1) in vivo imaging for small animal models of human disease, and (2) a Bio-Engineering
Research and Development Unit. He is also a Mentor and Executive Member for the CIHR Strategic Training Program: IMPACT (Cardio-pulmonary research and disease).
In addition to academic and research duties, Halayko is an active member of the American Thoracic Society (ATS) and currently holds a 2-yr term on the ATS Board of Directors as the elected Chair of the Respiratory Structure and Function Assembly. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Canadian Thoracic Society (CTS), being Chair of both the CTS Research Committee its National Respiratory Research Strategy Steering Committee. Locally, he serves as a member of the Board of
Directors (Research Committee Chair and member of Executive Committee) of the Manitoba Lung Association.
Cost:
This will be a free event.
Contact:
For questions or more information: Jun Cai 474-6419
Posted on January 24, 2012 by Dario Schor
