Past Award Winners

M.K. Glassberg
University of Miami, Miami, Florida, USA
“Indomethacin increases the vasoconstriction activity of endothelial cell conditioned media”

Michael Golden
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
“Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) activity and mRNA expression in healing vascular grafts”

R. Nitzberg
Tufts New England Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
“Selection techniques and functionality studies of genetically modified endothelial cells”

C.S. Yu
University of Miami, Miami, Florida, USA
“The effect of ANP and API on endothelial cell migration and division”

Andreas Faulmuller
University of Tubigen, Germany
“The relative importance of platelets, smooth muscle cells or plasma components for SMC proliferation in hypophysectomized rats”

Arkadiusz Jawien
University of Washington, Seattle, USA
“Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) stimulates medial smooth muscle cell proliferation in vivo”

Richard Cohen
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
“Acute cyclic strain reduces Gial, 2 immunoreactivity independent of carboxyl methylation”

Rainer Schreiber
University of Tubingen, Germany
“Matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) in vascular smooth muscle cells in vitro and in vivo”

David Margolin
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
“Changes in PDGF production during the healing of prosthetic vascular grafts” 

Sarah Jane George
University of Wales, Great Britain
“Neointima formation in vitro – an intimal to medial gradient of PDGF messenger RNA and protein expression”

Gillian Cockerill
Hanson Center for Cancer Research, Australia
“Identification of NFAT in endothelial cells: its role in GM-CSF and E-selectin regulation”

Thomas Willnow
University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, Texas, USA
“Inhibition of hepatic chylomicron remnant uptake by somatic gene transfer of a negative regulator or receptor activity”

Beata Faber
Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Sweden
“T lymphocytes of atherosclerotic plaques recognize oxidized LDL”

Camilla Carroll
Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland
“Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) enhances latissimus dorsi muscle (LDM) flap perfusion and function for use in cardiomyoplasty (CMP)”

Gary Bowlin
The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio, USA
“Improved attachment and retention using an electrostatic endothelial cell seeding technique”

Bruno Meiser
University of Munich, Munich, Germany
“Results from a controlled double blind randomized clinical trail investigating the effect of angiopeptin on graft vessel disease after heart transplantation”

Donny Dal Ponte
University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
“Cytokine expression by cells associated with synthetic vascular graft material”

Martin Grabenwoeger
General Hospital Vienna, Vienna, Austria
“Acidic glycoproteins accumulate in calcified areas of bioprosthetic tissue”

Paul Human
University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
“The immune response to bioprosthetic tissue-influence of cross-link density”

Paul Hedeman Joosten
University Hospital Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
“Thrombogenicity of different cell types seeded on vascular grafts studies under blood flow conditions”

Matthew Silverman
Sinai Samaritan Medical Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
“Effect of pressure on the expression of tissue factor activity, cell adhesion molecules, and fibroblast growth factor in cultured human endothelial cells” 

Rebecca Carrier
Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
“Direct perfusion enhances engineered cardiac tissue homogeneity”

Raymond Chen
Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
“Cardiac valves are privileged in pig-to-primate cardiac xenotransplant rejection”

C.H.P. Arts
University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
“An improved method to purify microvascular endothelial cells with reduced thrombogenicity: implications for the seeding of vascular prostheses”

Lei Huang
Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
“Processing of elastin-mimetic peptide polymers into small diameter fibers”

Alexander Kadner
Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
“Does blood group incompatibility contribute to homograft degeneration?”

Brenda Mann
Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA
“Synthetic EMC analogs: New polymer constructs for vascular tissue engineering”

Andreina Schoeberlein
University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
“The complement component C5A and tumor necrosis factor-alpha have a synergistic effect on the induction of endothelial E-selectin and ICAM-1 expression”

Dror Seliktar
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
“Matrix metalloproteinase-2 regulates tissue remodeling of smooth muscle cell-seeded collagen constructs subjected to cyclic mechanical strain”

James Smith
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA and Cape Heart Centre,
Cape Town, South Africa
“Cyclic stretch induces the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in vascular smooth muscle cells:  An argument for a compliant vascular graft”

Susan Steitz
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
“Osteopontin: A natural inhibitor of ectopic calcification In Vivo”

Julie Trudel
Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
“Polysaccharide-based hydrogels modulate vascular profiles around ePTFE implants” 

Stephan M. Ensminger
Zentrum Fur Herzchirurgie, Universitat Erlangen,
Erlangen, Germany
“PECAM-1 (CD31) Expression on donor endothelial cells attenuates transplant arteriosclerosis in aortic allografts”

Jan P. Stegemann
Institute for Bioengineering & Bioscience, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
“Genetic modification of vascular smooth muscle cells to control phenotype and function”

Chris Sullivan
Department of Physiological Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
“FGF2 is not essential for flow-dependent arterial remodeling in the mouse”

Lian Xue
Department of Surgery, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, Illinois, USA
“A novel quantitative 3_D in vitro angiogenesis in fibrin matrix – FGF-1 and VEGF bioactivity and synergism” 

Luke P. Brewster
Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, Illinois, USA
“Mitogenic activity of a novel chimera with collagen binding and growth factor domains created for scaffold immobilization”

Eric M. Brey
Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, Illinois, USA
“HBGAM/R136K chimera induces heparin independent proliferation of endothelial and smooth muscle cells”

Sally A. Dreger
Heart Science Centre, Harefield, Middlesex,
United Kingdom
“Matrix remodeling and synthesis by human valve interstitial cells in a 3-D biological scaffold”

Martin Ehrbar
Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Zurich, Switzerland
“Study of engineered VEGF-fibrin substrates for maturation of human endothelial progenitor cells”

Paul A. Keire
The Hope Heart Institute, Seattle, Washington, USA
“The use of proteoglycans genes to correct elastic fiber defects and engineer vascular tissue”

Sheikh T. Rashid
Royal Free & University College Medical School, London, United Kingdom
“A hybrid bypass graft – using pre-conditioned smooth muscle cells & endothelial cells on compliant poly(carbonateurea) urethane scaffold” 

Nicholas D. Andersen
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
“In Vitro Validation of Silencing RNA as a Tool to Limit the Response to Surgical Injury of Vein Bypass Grafts”

George C. Engelmayr, Ph.D.
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
“Cyclic Flexure and Laminar Flow Synergistically Accelerate Mesenchymal Stem Cell Mediated Engineered Heart Valve Tissue Formation”

Doerthe Schmidt, MD
Clinic for Cardiovascular Surgery, University Hospital,
Zurich, Switzerland
“Engineering of Living Autologous Pediatric Cardiovascular Tissue Replacements Based on Prenatal Progenitor Cells”

Teik K. Ho
Department of Surgery
The Royal Free and University College Medical School,
London, United Kingdom
"The Angiogenic Effects of CXCL12 Variants and the Expression of CXCL12 Variants and CXCR4 in Human Critical Limb Ischemia"

Jason D. Roh
Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
"MCP-1 is an Essential Mediator in Tissue Engineered Blood Vessel Development"

Daiju Fukuda
Cardiovascular Division, Department of Medicine
Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School,
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
"Dll4-notch Signaling Participates in the Pathogenesis of Obesity And Atherosclerosis: A Potential Common Mechanism for Cardiometabolic Disorders"

Clayton R. Peterson, MD
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
"Vascular Remodeling In Transplant Arteriosclerosis: The Role of A20"
 

Casey J. Holliday-Ankeny
Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University,
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
"The Function of Shear-responsive and Side-dependent microRNA-486-5p in Aortic Valve Endothelium"

Maxime Tondreau
LOEX/Laval University, Quebec, Canada
"A Novel Tissue-Engineered Devitalized Vascular Prosthesis"

Jason R. Cook
Icahn School of Medicine
Mt. Siani, New York, USA
"Characterization of dilated cardiomyopathy in mice with Marfan Syndrome”

M. K. Sewell-Loftin
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, Tennessee, USA
“Micromechanical Analysis of Heart Valves Via Atomic Force Microscopy”

Alison Fetz
University of Memphis    

Melanie Generali

Eline E. van Haaften and Tamar Wissing

 

First Place:
Max Rogers
Brigham and Womens Hospital

Second Place:
Laure Magnan
Universite de Bordeaux

Third Place:
Florian Schlotter
Heart Center Leipzig