Cardiovascular Bioengineering

UVa is a world leader in the application of quantitative systems analysis tools, imaging methods, and cutting-edge molecular and nanotechnologies to the architecture, function, and adaptation of the cardiovascular system. As the foremost health care problem in the industrialized world, cardiovascular diseases present tremendous challenges to bioengineering, and these challenges have grown larger in the post-genomic biologic world. Our department has a 35 year record of innovation in the description of cardiovascular behavior from cardiac performance to molecular dynamics of important cardiovascular proteins and cells.

Today, our faculty and students are working to discover how arrays of proteins work in integrated signal networks to control endothelial mechanotransduction, to predict how microvessels adapt in response to environmental stresses using computational systems biology approaches, to harness the molecular machinery of inflammatory cell trafficking to create new drug delivery and vascular imaging technologies, and to explore how cardiac contractility is compromised at the molecular scale after heart attack. We see cardiovascular bioengineering as the most potent and promising form of preventative medicine. In addition to the BME faculty engaged in this endeavor, there is a vibrant, world-class cardiovascular biology community at UVa, including the Cardiovascular Research Center, which is located in the same new research building as the BME department to facilitate collaboration. Leading centers in cell adhesion, regenerative medicine, morphogenesis, cardiac imaging, cancer, and nanotechnology complement the cardiovascular bioengineering environment.

Primary Faculty

Milton Adams: acid-base balance in brain and control of breathing, ion transport at CNS capillaries, control of ventricular assist pumps

Brett Blackman: vascular & endothelial cell mechanobiology, regulation of endothelial phenotypes in health & disease, gene expression

Brent French: molecular genetics in the treatment and prevention of ischemic heart disease

Brian Helmke: endothelial cell mechanobiology, 4-D imaging of intracellular structure and signaling, nanotechnology tools for engineering cell structure and function

John Hossack: ultrasound imaging of cardiac function in mice

Michael Lawrence: thrombosis, cell adhesion & protein bond mechanics, drug delivery

Craig Meyer: noninvasive coronary artery and wall imaging, cardiac MRI

Jason Papin: coupling microvascular cellular automata models with intracellular network-based pathway analysis

Shayn Peirce: multi-agent cellular automata simulations of vascular remodeling, vascular progenitor cell biology, perivascular cell biology

Richard J. Price: therapeutic arteriogenesis, mechanisms of angiogenesis, microvascular mechanics

Jeffrey Saucerman: signaling mechanisms of cardiovascular disease

Thomas Skalak: microvascular remodeling, computational systems modeling of vascular growth, biomechanics

Affiliated Faculty

Paul Allaire: design of mechanical artificial hearts for long-term congestive heart failure

Brian Duling: cell-cell communication in the vessel wall

Frederick Epstein: cardiac MRI, myocardial function, myocardial perfusion

Brian Wamhoff