Wesley LaBarge (left) and Asher Krell (right), have each been awarded a two-year American Heart Association (AHA) Predoctoral Fellowship. The project funding includes a stipend which matches the NIH scale for predoctoral fellows, as well as additional supplements for project support and health insurance.

LaBarge is a Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering, and Krell is an M.D.-Ph.D. (MSTP) student.

LaBarge’s research project will focus on improving the maturation of Cyclin D2 overexpressing, human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte tissues to be used in repairing the injured myocardium after a myocardial infarction. Krell’s project is aimed at developing a novel Cyclin D2 overexpressing cell line that can be turned on or off with the presence of the antibiotic doxycycline in order to create cardiac patches with a safe proliferative ability.

Both projects will be mentored by BME Department Chair Jianyi Zhang, M.D., Ph.D.