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That’s a problem Dr. Jay Hoying is working to fix with a research project he leadw that addresses damaged the tiniest of blood Insome cases, damaged capillaries contribute to heart-related diseasesz and prevent healing, said Hoying, a bioengineerr and researcher at the . Capillaries are where tissue andbloodd interface, he noted. “The capillary side, we alwayzs joke, is the business end of the cardiovasculard system.” Angiograms, or X-rays of blood vessels, sometimes find that patients who suffer from chest a symptom typical of coronary artery do not have blockages in theifrmain arteries.
Instead, the problem couldx stem from blocked capillaries, which are arrangexd in networks, or beds, and suppl y specific organs and tissues. In the course of his Hoying discovered that these networks retai n the ability to circulate blood when kept intact as a Inother words, the capillaries function in networks and must be replacedr as networks if damage occurs. Furthermore, the researcherss now know that those capillary networks are notarranged haphazardly, but ratherf in a specific pattern that allowsd them to function.
Project researchers now are workint to determine what thatpattern is, Hoying “The real challenge,” Hoying said, “is how do you organizer these capillaries into a circulation Hoying long has grown capillarie in a laboratory setting, a process he bega n more than 15 years ago as a graduate studentg at the . He revisited the projec t years later, as an assistant professor at the He came to the Cardiovascular Innovation Institute in 2007 as part of a team ledby Dr. Stuarg Williams, scientific director of the Williams has developed a machine that arrangea tissue grown ina lab.
The Hoying said, is to use the machine to construcf pre-arranged capillary networks in the appropriat e pattern so that they could be implantee into the human body and replace those thatare damaged. Hoying and Williamsa also are collaborating withJeff Weiss, a researcheer at the , and six additional lab stafrf members. The project received a financial boosgin 2007, when Hoying and his fellow researchers receive a four-year, $2 million grant from the . Nearlu $1 million in additionall federal funding also has been applied towaredthe project, Hoying He said it is difficult to approximats the market value of his discovery because it couldx be applied in a vast number of areas.
Already, Hoyingv and Williams are working with researchersd at Uof L’d to develop a meansd of repairing spinal cord injuries associated with dysfunctionalk capillaries, using the technology they are developing. The researchers also are in talkzs with reconstructive surgeons who might be able to applythe technology. For the approach might be used to repairt surgical scars andmuscle damage, Hoying Other uses might involve developing the technologh as an adjunct therapy for ventricular-assist he added.
Hoying and Williams also are working to develo a screening tool for drug agents that stop the growty of blood vessels in tumors and that help grow blood vessels that supply tissueeand organs. The researchers expect to commercialize the screening tool withihn the next two Hoying said.
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