To study the vast potential of tissue engineering and other techniques aimed at repairing damaged or diseased tissues and organs, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC Health System have established the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine (MIRM). As an entity, the MIRM will serve as a single base of operations for the university's leading scientists and clinical faculty working to develop tissue engineering, cellular therapies, biosurgery and artificial and biohybrid organ devices.

It is expected that the new institute will devise innovative clinical protocols as well as pursue rapid commercial transfer of its technologies related to regenerative medicine. Regenerative medicine is an emerging field that approaches the repair or replacement of tissues and organs by incorporating the use of cells, genes or other biological building blocks along with bioengineered materials and technologies.

The new institute takes its name from the McGowan Center for Artificial Organ Development, which under its current guise, will cease to exist. Its faculty and programs will be incorporated into the MIRM, and with the MIRM's expanded role and mission, other university faculty will join forces as well. These include researchers working in tissue engineering, adult-derived stem cell research and wound healing, among others.

The MIRM will be directed by Alan J. Russell, who is currently the Nikolas DeCecco professor and chairman of chemical and petroleum engineering at the University of Pittsburgh School of Engineering, and associate director of the university's Center for Biotechnology and Bioengineering. Dr. Russell is internationally renowned for his research on biomaterials and bioengineering and holds a number of patents. He is executive director of the Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative, a post he will continue in for at least another year.

The MIRM is expected to establish itself as a model for technology transfer. In addition, the institute plans to compete for major funding and to establish itself as a location for a National Tissue Engineering Center.

A number of projects will be conducted at the MIRM, including those in progress at the former McGowan Center. These include efforts to develop an axial-flow left-ventricular assist system for patients with end-stage heart disease, a respiratory assist device for patients with acute lung failure, a biohybrid artificial lung intended for long-term use, a novel blood additive that improves blood flow to oxygen-deprived tissues, a bioengineered blood vessel, and a myocardial patch of muscle cells intended to repair heart tissue damaged by heart attack. Many of the MIRM researchers will focus on developing and evaluating various biomaterials as well as looking at the potential of therapies using adult-derived stem cells.

The MIRM will be housed where the McGowan Center was planning to move early next year -- in a two-story, 45,000-square-foot "green design" building on Pittsburgh's South Side, on the site of former LTV Steel. Construction of the building is being made possible through grants from the McGowan Charitable Fund, Heinz Endowments, R.K. Mellon Foundation and the state Department of Community Development and Economic Development.

The former McGowan Center for Artificial Organ Development and the new McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine are named after the late William S. McGowan, who as chief executive officer at MCI Communications underwent a successful heart transplant at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in 1987.