Jianyi Zhang, Ph.D.

Injecting infarcted pig hearts with specially bioengineered cells significantly decreased the infarct area and improved heart function, showing possible clinical relevance

In a large-animal model study, researchers have found that heart attack recovery is aided by injection of heart muscle cell spheroids derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells, or hiPSCs, that overexpress cyclin D2 and are knocked out for human leukocyte antigen classes I and II. This research, published in the journal Circulation Research, used a pig model of heart attacks. Pig hearts more closely resemble the human heart in size and physiology, and thus have a higher clinical relevance to human disease, compared to studies in mice.

University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers, led by Jianyi “Jay” Zhang, MD, PhD, and Lei Ye, MD, PhD, generated the human leukocyte antigen-knockout and cyclin D2-overexpressing hiPSCs, called KO/OEhiPSCs. When KO/OEhiPSCs were differentiated into cardiomyocyte spheroids and implanted into the pig hearts that had undergone ischemia/reperfusion injury, the KO/OEhiPSC-cardiomyocyte implantation resulted in significantly improved cardiac function and reduced infarct size after four weeks… Continue reading.

The heart cannot regenerate muscle tissue after a heart attack has killed part of the muscle wall. That dead tissue can strain surrounding muscle, leading to a lethal heart enlargement.

Biomedical engineers believe they can aid the failing heart by using pluripotent stem cells to grow heart muscle cells outside of the body, and then injecting those muscle cells or adding a patch made from those cells, at or near the site of the dead heart tissue. Experimental and clinical trial evidence with this approach has shown moderate improvement of the pumping ability of the heart’s left ventricle… Continue reading.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) has announced the induction of Jianyi Zhang, Ph.D., Chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering, T. Michael and Gillian Goodrich Endowed Chair of Engineering Leadership, Professor of Medicine, of Engineering, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, to its College of Fellows.

Election to the AIMBE College of Fellows is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to a medical and biological engineer. The College of Fellows is comprised of the top two percent of medical and biological engineers. College membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to “engineering and medicine research, practice, or education” and to “the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of medical and biological engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to bioengineering education.”

Dr. Zhang was nominated, reviewed, and elected by peers and members of the College of Fellows for “leadership in the fields of cardiac injury and regeneration, and training of the new generation of biomedical engineers.”