by Hannah Buckelew
The University of Alabama at Birmingham and Keio University in Kyoto, Japan co-organized the seventh annual NIH Progenitor Cell Translation Consortium (PCTC) 2023 Cardiovascular Bioengineering Symposium (CVBE) in Kyoto, Japan May 29-31. Five faculty members from the UAB Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) attended.

The international meeting featured keynote speakers Victor Dzau, M.D., president of the National Academy of Medicine, professor of medicine, Duke University, and Roderic Pettigrew, M.D., Ph.D., chief executive officer of Engineering Health, executive dean for engineering medicine, Texas A&M University.

Attending UAB BME faculty members presented throughout the meeting:

On Monday, May 29, BME Chair Jianyi “Jay” Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., presented opening remarks and the presentation, “modRNA Therapeutics vs. hiPSC-dereived Cell and Cell-products for Myocardial Repair in Large Mammals.” Yuji Nakada, Ph.D., assistant professor, presented, “The Pig Double Injury Heart Model Extends Cardiomyocyte Regeneration Capacity through Redox Regulation.”

Yang Zhou, Ph.D., assistant professor, presented, “Transcriptional Epigenetic Reconfiguration in Direct Cardiac Reprogramming” on Tuesday, May 30.

On Wednesday, May 31, Philippe Menasché, M.D., Ph.D., professor, presented, “Extracellular Vesicles for Cardiac Repair: A Translational Experience.” Yajing Wang, Ph.D., professor, Vice Chair of Research, Director of Basic and Translational Research, presented “Novel Mechanism in Diabetic Cardiac Injury.” Manuel Rosa-Garrido, Ph.D., assistant professor, presented “Reversing Heart Failure through CTCF-Mediated Structural Repair of the Genome.”

The goal of the PCTC, a consortium of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), is to translate advances in progenitor cell biology toward application to heart, lung, and blood diseases. The CVBE symposium is a convergence of cardiovascular scientists and engineers, with the participation of top researchers in cardiovascular bioengineering.

This collaborative conference, focusing on the identification of novel therapeutic targets and strategies to translate the state-of-the-art experimental knowledge into clinical applications, is organized by Drs. Jay Zhang and Yuji Nakada both from the UAB Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Keiichi Fukuda, M.D., Ph.D., professor, Department of Cardiology, Keio University, Japan.

View the meeting program here.

Department members look forward to attending the 2024 PCTC CVBE Symposium in Houston, Texas.