Contact: Ellen Bank
843.792.2626
Feb. 4, 2002
CHARLESTON, SC -- Sculpt a prize and they
will come. At least that's the way Vladimir Mironov, Ph.D., has it
planned.
Mironov, a Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy researcher,
has organized the Charles Lindbergh Symposium Feb. 4 at MUSC,
celebrating the 100th birthday of the inventor of an "artificial heart,"
the first of its kind designed to pump essential nutrients and oxygen
through living human tissue.
The Lindbergh-Carrel Prize, which is a sculpted conception of
Lindbergh's pump to focus public attention on perfusion science, will be
awarded during the symposium to three of nine prize laureates, all
pioneers in perfusion and tissue bioengineering. The remaining prizes
will be awarded in April and June.
Recipients of the prize Feb. 4 were Theodore Malinin, M.D., of
the University of Miami, Fla., Gail Naughton, Ph.D., of La Jolla,
Calif., and Bernhard Palsson, Ph.D., of the University of California,
San Diego.
Created by Italian sculpture designer Carlo Zoli, the
Lindbergh-Carrel Prize incorporates the original pump design with the
standing female form indicating a union of machine and body to sustain
life. Nicknamed "Elisabeth," the sculpture is reminiscent of the sister
of Lindbergh's wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, and the reason for
Lindbergh's interest in the heart pump.
Elisabeth Morrow died of heart disease. At that time in the
early 1930s, medical technology could not provide an artificial heart
pump that would substitute for a heart during surgery. After Elisabeth's
death, Lindbergh, who is better known for his 1927 transatlantic solo
flight from New York to Paris, developed the device with French-born
surgeon and biologist Alexis Carrel. Carrel was known for his research
in keeping organs alive outside the body.
Other prize laureates speaking at Lindbergh commemorative events
later this year are Judah Folkman of Harvard University, Robert Nerem of
Georgia Technical University, Joseph Vacanti of Harvard, Robert Langer
of MIT, Michael DeBakey of Baylor University and Wei-Shou Hu of the
University of Minnesota.
Mironov said his goal in organizing the symposium and
commissioning the prize commemorating Charles A. Lindbergh's heart pump
is to bring national attention to biomedical scientists who work on the
tissue level.
"Anatomy is no longer a static science," Mironov said. "The
discovery of stem cells has reinvented a classical microscopical
anatomyÑa tissue biology science, which is now again a vibrant,
booming discipline. It no longer considers tissue a static, solid
structure, but rather as elastoviscous, constantly renewing its dynamic
community of cells and extracellular matrix."
In the labs and on the near horizon are perfusion and
bioengineering techniques to keep transplant organs alive and fresh
longer, procedures to shrink a malignant tumor by blocking its blood
supply, and plans to grow human organs with the careful manipulation of
stem cells.
"This is reality," Mironov said. "This is not molecular genetics
with a hope for results 50 years from now. This is real research with
real results today. People ought to know about it, and they ought to
know that this research is going on right here at MUSC in Charleston,
South Carolina."
The Charles Lindbergh Symposium held Feb. 4 in Room 656 of the
Basic Science Building. For further information call Mironov at
792-7630.
Charles Lindbergh Symposium
Theodore Malinin, M.D., director of the Tissue Bank and Lindbergh Pump
Museum at the University of Miami, Fla., is co-author of a publication
with Charles Lindbergh on perfused bioreactor technology, and authored a
book about Alexis Carrel. He is also a pioneer in the tissue bank
business.
Gail Naughton, Ph.D., is president and CEO of Advanced Tissue Sciences
Inc., La Jolla, Calif., a world leader in tissue engineering. Naughton
is a pioneer of industrial tissue engineering, woman innovator of the
year and leader in bioreactor technologies for industrial tissue
engineering.
Berhard Palsson, Ph.D., professor, Department of Bioengineering,
University of California, San Diego, is an inventor of hollow fiber
perfused bioreactor technology for propagation of stem cells and is a
pioneer in the mathematical modeling of circuit systems and in silico
biology.
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