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Ji Luo - PhD Student

Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering
Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Faculty of Biological Sciences
The University of Leeds
LS2 9JT, UK

Tel: [+44] (0)113 343 5639 , Fax: [+44] (0)113 343 3167
E-mail: bs06j3l@leeds.ac.uk , Room: Garstang 7.63

Tissue Engineering of Pulmonary Cardiac Valves
EPSRC IDS Studentship
Supervisor: Professor Eileen Ingham, Dr Sotirios Korossis, Professor Zhongmin Jin

Heart valve diseases are a leading cause of death in the modern world. No currently available replacement valve is ideal for heart valve replacement, especially for children. Tissue engineering offers a solution to design an “ideal replacement valve” which would overcome almost all of the drawbacks that the currently available replacement valves have, including the risk of thromboembolism, requirement of lift-time medication, short durability, etc. In addition, children would benefit from a successful tissue engineered replacement heart valve since it would have the possibility of growth, repair, and remodeling.

The Ross procedure is used clinically for patients suffering from serious aortic valve diseases. During this procedure, the diseased aortic valve is removed, and replaced with the patients’ pulmonary valve plus root (autograft); the pulmonary valve is then replaced with an implanted valve.

The aim of this project is to design a tissue engineered pulmonary valve for use in the Ross procedure, using an acellular porcine heart valve scaffold seeded with endothelial cells and mesenchymal stem cells, and cultured in a heart valve bioreactor.


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