Next generation multifunctional biomaterials for the infarcted heart

Regenerative medicine has the tantalising potential of replacing tissue damaged during myocardial infarction. However, in over 20-years of experimentation, there are few credible reports of substantial cardiac regeneration.

A major reason for this is that even cells with truly cardiomyogenic potential are rapidly lost at the time of injection and do not integrate with the host.

Biomaterials are increasingly used to improve cell retention and viability, and I believe that enhanced biomaterial formulations are key to finally delivering effective regeneration. My team have developed a multi-modality in-vivo imaging toolkit for visualising therapeutic biomaterials and cells.

We will use this image-guided approach to enhance biomaterial graft-mediated regeneration of the heart post-myocardial infarction by, 1. Maximising initial graft retention. 2. Enhancing long-term graft viability and integration. 3.

Performing a preclinical trial of cardiac regeneration in mice using enhanced grafts and translational imaging endpoints. 4. Undertaking a pilot study of image-guided cardiac regeneration in minipigs.

Outcomes will not only provide data on therapeutic efficacy of the next generation of regenerative therapies, but also demonstrate new translational imaging approaches that can be tailored to clinical studies of cardiac regenerative medicine and utilised across emerging biomaterial and cell therapies for other debilitating diseases.