No therapy currently available can reduce the size of an established scar on the heart. Cell therapy aims to alter this fixed trajectory for Myocardial Infarction (MI) survivors: to intervene adverse heart remodeling, to reduce scar size, and to actually regenerate viable myocardial tissue.
The last one and half decades witnessed the booming of stem cell therapies for multiple diseases, and during the last seven years, Dr. Ke Cheng’s lab has focused on studying heart-derived cardiac stem cells (CSCs). Efficacy in cell transplantation is hampered by low rates of cell retention and engraftment in the tissue parenchyma. By engineering synthetic stem cells, Dr. Cheng and his team have developed multiple strategies to enhance the delivery and address risks associated with successful transplantation of stem cells. In this seminar, he will discuss his work with CSCs and his approach towards overcoming barriers in the field.