Sharon Gerecht, an associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, has received an American Heart Association Established Investigator Award.
The five-year grant supports mid-career investigators with “unusual promise” and “an established track record of accomplishments” who have demonstrated commitment to cardiovascular or cerebrovascular science. The AHA funded only four of these prestigious awards this year.
Gerecht’s research has focused on new techniques to prod stem cells into becoming the different types of tissue needed to build tiny networks of veins and arteries. In the future, these approaches could enable scientists to assemble networks of new blood vessels in the laboratory for later transplant into patients whose circulatory systems have been damaged by heart disease, diabetes, and other illnesses.
More about Gerecht’s research:
A Step Toward Custom-Built Blood Vessels