IEM Member Karen Christman Engineers a New Biomaterial Therapy for Treating Heart Attack

 

April 9, 2014

University of California, San Diego bioengineer Karen Christman's new injectable hydrogel, which is designed to repair damaged cardiac tissue following a heart attack, has been licensed to San Diego-based startup Ventrix, Inc, which is planning the first human clinical trials of the technology. Christman is a co-founder of Ventrix.

In a 2013 study published in Science Translational Medicine, Christman reported the semi-solid, porous gel encourages cells to repopulate areas of damaged cardiac tissue and to preserve heart function. The hydrogel forms a scaffold to repair the tissue and increases cardiac muscle.

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