Department of Biomedical Engineering

URMC Scientists Awarded $6.8 Million in Stem Cell Research Grants

Ten scientists from the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) have been awarded more than $6.8 million by the Empire State Stem Cell Board. The grants are for a wide range of research programs in the fields of neurological disorders, cancer, musculoskeletal diseases, the blood system, and efforts to understand the fundamental mechanics of stem cell biology.

Stem cell research for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine is a rapidly evolving field that holds great promise for the 21^st century. Drs. Hani Awad, Laura Calvi, Edward Puzas, Edward Schwarz,Xinping Zhang, Dirk Bohmann, James Palis, Richard Waugh and others have obtained funding for stem cell research to further their efforts in this area that include: understanding the molecular genetic characteristic of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), how to expand MSCs in vitro and in vivo, methods to impregnate matrices withMSCs to tissue engineer bone and cartilage, and how to image labeled MSCs.