News

September 4, 2020

Researchers describe ways to achieve optimal patient advocacy for kidney recipients and donors during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond 

(LOS ANGELES) – In a newly published paper, the authors first paint the vision of what optimal patient advocacy can do to overcome the challenges described by kidney transplant patients and donors, and then describe how to make that vision a reality, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Amy Waterman, Deputy Director at the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation and leader of the Transplant Research and Education Center (TREC), assembled a panel of patients to learn their priorities for their care during this unprecedented time. 

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August 18, 2020

(LOS ANGELES) – The Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI) is pleased to welcome Maurizio Vecchione as its Chief Innovation Officer.  Maurizio has spent the last 30 years at the forefront of global and public health, focusing on innovation to improve the lives of the world’s most vulnerable people. From 2014 until 2020, he was the Executive Vice President for Global Good and Research at Intellectual Ventures (IV), where he oversaw collaboration with Bill Gates to invent and deploy technology to address some of humanity’s most daunting challenges.

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August 5, 2020

A recent study published in the Journal of Biomedical Semantics performed an analysis and ranking of the most prominent, influential and prolific authors in the rapidly expanding field of 3D bioprinting.  The findings revealed that Ali Khademhosseini, Ph.D., of the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation, ranked as the second-most prolific author in terms of productivity, citation impact, and collaborative networking. 

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July 20, 2020

From the burgeoning field of biomedical engineering and the ever-present need to provide solutions for medical problems, a new resource has been created that joins engineering technologies with biological research and medicine.  A comprehensive new book entitled “Interfacing Bioelectronics and Biomedical Sensing,” and co-edited by Ali Khademhosseini of the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Hung Cao of UC Irvine, Todd Coleman of UC San Diego and Tzung Hsiai from UCLA, has been recently published by Springer Nature.   

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July 13, 2020

Component of tissue is shown to limit the amount of scarring after heart attack. 

(LOS ANGELES) –  When a person has a heart attack, the person’s coronary artery is blocked, cutting off the flow of blood and oxygen to that portion of the person’s heart.  The surrounding heart muscle may be damaged to an extent depending on the size of the blocked area and the time between the attack and treatment. Upon recovery, the heart muscle starts to heal, and like a skin wound, it may form a scar.  The size and location of the scar can vary greatly, and there is a possibility to develop additional complications or even death. 

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July 6, 2020

Materials to enhance the body’s own regenerative capabilities 

(LOS ANGELES) – Successful tissue regeneration can have major benefits in healing injuries or replacing portions of diseased or damaged tissue in bone, skin, the nervous system and in organs such as the muscle, kidney, liver, lung, and heart.  But the effectiveness of the body’s own system for repairing such damage can vary greatly, depending on the kind of tissue involved and its location.  Tissue engineers have been working to address these limitations by creating substances called biomaterials, which can be used in various ways to boost the body’s ability to heal.  In a recent publication in Nature Reviews Materials, Ali Khademhosseini, Ph.D., Director and CEO of the Terasaki Institute, and colleagues discuss the use of biomaterials for tissue regeneration. 

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July 2, 2020

New call center to answer questions, educate, and support the dialysis and transplant community. 

(LOS ANGELES) –

The Transplant Research and Education Center (TREC), housed at the Terasaki Research Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI), launched the COVID-19 Kidney / Transplant Listening & Resource Center (KTLRC) on June 17, 2020. The KTLRC is a vital new service created in direct response to the unique and unmet needs of the dialysis and organ transplant community during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The KTLRC is a toll-free call center that allows patients, their loved ones, and caregivers to connect with our experienced education team to share their questions, concerns, and receive answers, education, and referrals for additional resources.  

The KTLRC can be reached at: 

1-800-830-0484 

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

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June 15, 2020

Researchers take a step closer to 3D printing living tissues in patients

(LOS ANGELES) – In the TV series Westworld, human body parts are built on robotic frames using 3D printers.  While still far from this scenario, 3D printers are being increasingly used in medicine.  For example, 3D printing can be used to produce parts of the body such as orthopedic joints and prosthetics, as well as portions of bone, skin and blood vessels.  However, the majority of these tissues are created in an apparatus outside of the body and surgically implanted.  Such a procedure may involve making large surgical incisions, posing the added risk of infection and increased recovery time for the patient.  And since there is a time lapse between when the tissue is created and when it is implanted in the patient, further complications may occur.  To prevent these complications, a team of scientists have developed a technology to print tissues directly in the body.

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