Derivation of swine pericytes to enable fit-for-purpose clinical translation (Miss Valeria Alvino)
Supervised by Professor Paolo Madeddu, the PhD student working on this project wants to overcome a serious hurdle that is stalling the development of new cell treatments. Scientists looking for new treatments to repair damaged heart tissue and treat heart disease often study small animal models of disease, such as mice or rats. They then confirm the results in larger animals, such as pigs, before testing in people. The studies in larger animals are essential because their hearts and circulatory systems are far more similar to our own. Professor Madeddu has previously discovered that transplanting human pericytes - cells that wrap around the blood vessels throughout the body – helps mouse tissues to heal after they are deprived of blood and oxygen, similar to the effects of a heart attack. These experiments could not be repeated in larger models, such as pigs, without compromising their immune system and potentially influencing the results. In this project, the student aims to solve this problem. The team will grow pig pericytes from pig hearts and blood vessels, and will compare them to human pericytes. They will investigate whether pig cells can repair tissue damage following a heart attack, as in the previous models. This could then lead to future clinical trials in people. This research will discover if pericytes could be used to treat heart disease in people, and may help other cell treatments move smoothly through the research pathway towards the clinic.
Project details
| Grant amount | £116,229 |
|---|---|
| Grant type | Fellowships |
| Application type | PhD Studentship |
| Start Date | 01 December 2016 |
| Duration | 3 years |
| Reference | FS/16/64/32480 |
| Status | Complete |
