Cooperative Biomedical Research Shows Amazing Potential

Brett Blackman and Brian Wamhoff form an unconventional research team.  Blackman is an assistant professor of biomedical engineering who studies endothelial cells, while Wamhoff is an assistant professor of internal medicine in the Division of Cardiology, who focuses on smooth muscle cells.  The two U.Va. faculty members have found success and great promise through collaborative research that incorporates both distinct, yet complementary cell types.

Endothelial and smooth muscle cells are the primary cell types that compose blood vessels.  Endothelial cells line the blood vessel wall and sense changes in blood flow, whereas smooth muscle cells compose the outer part of the vessel and regulate vessel contraction and relaxation.   These cell types are critical in the pathogenesis of artery disease or atherosclerosis, a disease that accounts for the highest rate of mortality in the United States.

Blackman and Wamhoff won a Fund for Excellence in Science and Technology (FEST) Distinguished Young Investigator Grant in 2005 for their joint proposal “Human endothelial/smooth muscle cell cross talk in response to atherosclerotic hemodynamic flow patterns.”  The FEST program is administered through the Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies and aims to reward faculty in their first three years at U.Va. with funding for their pioneering research proposals.  The idea behind this grant program is to support promising faculty in their early endeavors, thus enhancing their research capabilities and making them more competitive for future, external funding.

FEST funding enabled the researchers to develop a novel, motor-driven device that allows for the co-culture of human endothelial and smooth muscle cells in an environment that exposes them to relevant blood flow forces.  This research represents a huge achievement, because it permits the in vitro study of vascular cells while they are in a more natural state.  “It [the model] really allows us to recapitulate what is going on inside of a person’s arteries,” notes Wamhoff. 

The implications for their research are extensive.  Specifically, it could lead to the creation of a cell-culture based diagnostic model for heart disease, the number one killer in the western world.  The model applies blood flow patterns acquired from human subjects using MRI (magnetic resonance imaging).  Future applications of such a model include the study of MRI waveforms of individuals with various risk factors, such as smoking or diabetes, to determine in real time what types of cell behaviors may increase the body’s susceptibility to heart and vascular disease.  Additionally, the model could facilitate gene profiling at a level that has not been possible in the past as well as new drug therapies.

Nicky Hastings, graduate student in biomedical engineering, has been integral to the project’s progress and the generation of new data.  Hastings is applying for an American Heart Association predoctoral fellowship based on the research.  “I think it’s a really unique project,” says Hastings. “Something so cutting edge would not have been possible without the [FEST] funding.”

Blackman and Wamhoff are submitting a paper on the results of their research to an international journal.  In addition, they plan to use the data generated thus far to prepare a grant proposal to the National Institutes of Health for funding to continue their partnership and innovative work.