CAMDEN, N.J., March 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cooper Heart Institute at Cooper University Hospital has partnered with the Coriell Institute for Medical Research for a study that examines the role of stem cell research in repairing damaged hearts. A $300,000 New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology grant received by Coriell will fund the study, the first to link these Camden- based institutions in a marriage of clinical care and science that could vastly change the future of cardiac medicine.
Biagio Saitta, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Medicine at UMDNJ - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Camden, is principal investigator (PI) of the study and a molecular biologist at Coriell. He will work with Cooper University Hospital co-investigators Joseph E. Parrillo, M.D., Director of the Cooper Heart Institute, Head, Division of Cardiovascular Disease and Critical Care Medicine and Professor of Medicine at UMDNJ, and Steven Hollenberg, M.D., Director, Coronary Care Unit at the Cooper Heart Institute and Professor of Medicine at UMDNJ.
“We have isolated certain stem cells found in umbilical cord blood and our research will mimic how these cells could repair ischemic (cells without oxygen) cardiac cells isolated from laboratory animals,” said Dr. Saitta. “This research will enable us to study how tissue responds to damage from scarring, fibrosis and hypertrophy (enlarged heart). Our proposal has great potential for patient care.” Dr. Parrillo is a world-renowned clinical and research cardiologist who has been studying cardiac cells in humans, animals and test tubes for more than 20 years. While he was head of the Critical Care Medicine Department for the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Parrillo led research efforts that described serious heart dysfunction accompanying critical illness in humans; and he linked this clinical heart failure with intracellular mediators in cardiac cells. As a cardiologist and scientist, Dr. Parrillo will lend his expertise in ischemic injury and myocardial function to help take cardiac stem cell research to the next level. Drs. Parrillo and Hollenberg will both serve as cardiologists and physician experts in the study, working closely with Dr. Saitta.
“These studies of stem cells and heart disease represent the first step in a pathway that promises to treat and potentially cure heart disease without the need for complex surgery or heart transplantation. The possibilities from this research are among the most exciting in all of medicine,” said Dr. Parrillo.
“This is the Holy Grail of stem cell research in cardiology. For heart attack patients who have damaged their muscles, this is the only treatment with the potential to make new heart muscle,” explained Dr. Hollenberg. “We are already successfully growing stem cells from cord blood. This grant will allow us to study the mechanisms that help these cells make the heart pump better and more efficiently.”
With New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine’s staunch support, there is promise for New Jersey researchers and physicians to foster the benefits of stem cell research to improve human conditions. Cooper University Hospital is the premier provider of comprehensive healthcare and advanced technology in southern New Jersey. As the primary teaching hospital for the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School- Camden, Cooper offers the latest in treatment and technology to patients and referring physicians in southern New Jersey. The Coriell Institute for Medical Research is an independent, non-profit research organization dedicated to understanding human genetic diseases and providing the highest quality genetic resources.
Cooper University Hospital, the flagship hospital of The Cooper Health System, is the leading university hospital system serving southern New Jersey and the Delaware Valley region. Cooper’s University Physicians network has over 75 offices throughout South Jersey and southeast Pennsylvania. As a Principal Teaching Hospital for the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and the core clinical campus for the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Camden, Cooper has become a national leader in medical education and research. Cooper University Hospital is known for its comprehensive health care services and cutting-edge technology, and is recognized for its centers of excellence: the Cooper Heart Institute, Cooper Bone and Joint Institute, the Cancer Institute of New Jersey at Cooper, Cooper Critical Care Medicine, the Cooper Level 1 Trauma Center and The Cooper Neurosciences Institute. Cooper has been acknowledged for its leadership in patient safety by the National Foundation for Patient Safety, and has also been cited as a top employer and “best place to work” by a leading business publication in New Jersey. Cooper has also been designated as the 2005 Consumer Choice Award winner for the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington-MSA, by the National Research Corporation.
The Coriell Institute for Medical Research is an internationally known, not-for-profit, basic biomedical research institution. Founded in 1953 by Lewis L. Coriell, M.D., Ph.D., the Institute pioneered many cell culture techniques, which are now standard throughout the world. In addition to conducting its own research in cancer, human genetic variation, mechanisms of cellular differentiation, and other genetic disorders, the Institute maintains the world’s largest collection of human cells available to the entire scientific community for research. In 2005, by executive order from then New Jersey Acting Governor, Richard J. Codey, the Institute was named one of two locations in the state to receive and store umbilical cord blood donations as part of the nation’s first public cord blood bank.
Cooper University Hospital; Coriell Institute for Medical Research
CONTACT: Linda Michael, Cooper Public Relations, +1-856-382-6439; or PeggyLeone, AVP, Cooper Public Relations, +1-856-382-6437; or Laura Bishop,+1-856-642-6226, ext. 12, for Coriell Institute for Medical Research
Web site: http://www.cooperhealth.org//
