1. Academic Inventions through Multidisciplinary Collaborations between Weill Cornell Medical College and Ithaca Campuses Bo Liu Division of Vascular Surgery

2. Translate inventions in material science to novel treatments for vascular diseases. Vascular Surgeons Material ScientistsVascular Biologists Clinical problems Experimental hypotheses Material inventions

3. * H N H C O O NH H 2 NNH 2 C O O O C O H C H N NH H 2 NNH 2 * x y PEA polymer Project I: DNA Carriers Problem: Lack of safe and efficient DNA/RNA carriers for molecular therapy. Hypothesis: Newly invented PEA polymers are capable of binding DNA and delivering it to vascular cells and tissues. Cornell University Seed Grant (Liu & Chu) 11/1/06-10/31/07 Novel biodegradable biomaterials as non-viral gene transfer systems.

4. 15 μg PEI Control – no transfection SMC 15 μg PEA 1,500 μg PEA 15 μg Superfect® Cytotoxicity unhealthy healthy

5. Cytotoxicity: Cell Viability Higher %, more cell friendly

6. Transfection Efficiency in SMC Chu’s PEA samples Commercial reagent

7. SMC Transfection by DNA Encoded with Green Fluorescence Protein

8. Outcome: grant proposals NIH R21/R33 submitted on 9/16/07 Novel biodegradable polymers as non-viral gene transfer systems. Liu, Kent, Rafii, and Chu The Uehara Memorial Foundation (Japan) Research Fellowship----- 1/01/08 to 12/31/09 Yamanochi

9. Outcome: publication Transfection of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells with Novel Biodegradable Arginine Based Poly(ester-amide)s Dai Yamanouchi, M.D., Ph.D.,1, Jun Wu,2, Andrew Lazar,1, K Craig Kent, MD.,1, Chih-Chang Chu, Ph.D.,2, Bo Liu, Ph.D.1. 1. Weill Medical College; 2. Cornell University Submitted to Molecular Therapy

10. Project II: Tissue engineering of blood vessels Problem: Synthetic arterial grafts fail due to restenosis. Approach: Using biodegradable materials as scaffold to generate blood vessels ex vivo or in vitro. Morgan Seed Grant (Chu, Peinhart-King, Liu, and Kent) 7/1/07-12/31/08 Novel biodegradable scaffolds for tissue engineering of blood vessels.

11. Chu: Human Ecology Synthesis of PEA-based biodegradable and biofunctional elastomeric scaffolds Reinhart-King: BME In vitro engineering of scaffolds & cell adhesion study using vascular cells Liu/Kent: Weill Medical Optimization using stem-cell mediated healing to enhance success of engineered grafts Liu/Kent: Weill Medical In vivo animal model & implantation Feedback for optimization of design parameters

12. Future Plan NIH: PAR-06-504 (R01) Enabling Technologies for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Projected submission date: 9/10/08 Industry grants Patents

13. Vascular Surgery Lab K. Craig Kent, MD Bo Liu, PhD Rachel Elden Brad Herman, PhD Kaori Kato, MD Rishi Kundi, MD Sebastian Schuble, MD Shirling Tsai, MD Chunjie Wang Dai Yamanouchi, MD, PhD Fan Zhang, MD, PhD Andrew Zohlman Department of Surgery Research and Sponsored Program Caren A Heller, MD Cornell Intercampus Seed Grant Morgan Seed grant Ithaca C.C. Chu, PhD Hua Song, PhD Jun Wu