两著名科学家入选“科学美国人”（原文）

两著名科学家入选“科学美国人”

　　

Two Pitt researchers make 'Scientific American 50' of leaders in science and technology
PITTSBURGH, Nov. 13 -- Two University of Pittsburgh researchers have been selected by the Board of Editors of Scientific American magazine to its list of Scientific American 50 for 2006. The award recognizes research, business and policy leaders who have played a critical role driving key science and technology trends in the last year.

William R. Wagner, Ph.D., and Michael Sacks, Ph.D., of the University of Pittsburgh's McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine and department of bioengineering, were recognized for their research that has enabled the development of a novel biodegradable polymer-based scaffold that could one day serve as a tissue-engineered replacement for damaged pulmonary valves and other soft tissues.

The Scientific American 50 appears in the magazine's December issue, which is available online at www.sciam.com and will be on newsstands Nov. 21.

Dr. Wagner, deputy director of the McGowan Institute and associate professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and of chemical engineering and bioengineering, School of Engineering; and Dr. Sacks, the William Kepler Whiteford Professor in the department of bioengineering at Pitt's School of Engineering and director of McGowan's Engineered Tissue Mechanics Laboratory, have been collaborators for more than five years on a number of projects involving biomaterials and tissue mechanics. But it was their work developing and characterizing elastic polymer scaffolds loaded with cells that caught the attention of Scientific American.

Researchers in Dr. Wagner's laboratory developed a method using strong electrical fields to combine cells and polymer nanofibers that rapidly form elastic tissue-like scaffolds. The technique can place cells within fiber networks at the same scale found within the body's own tissue. Dr. Sacks' laboratory has characterized and modeled the function of these tissue scaffolds and demonstrated how they mimic the complex behavior of a human pulmonary valve. Through their collaboration, which they describe as "highly synergistic," Drs. Wagner and Sacks are refining this technique to design tissues for a variety of applications that involve extensive motion and deformation.

Headlining this year's list of the Scientific American 50 are Angela Belcher, Ph.D., a materials chemist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who was selected Research Leader of the Year; global insurer Swiss Re of Zurich, Switzerland, selected Business Leader of the Year; and former Vice President Al Gore, recognized as Policy Leader of the Year for his work on global warming.

The McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine was established by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) to realize the vast potential of tissue engineering and other techniques aimed at repairing damaged or diseased tissues and organs. Named for the late William G. McGowan, who was chief executive officer at MCI Communications when he underwent a successful heart transplant at UPMC in 1987, the McGowan Institute serves as a single base of operations for the University's leading scientists and clinical faculty working to develop tissue engineering, cellular therapies, biosurgery techniques and artificial and biohybrid organ devices.

For more information about the McGowan Institute's research programs and faculty, go to http://www.mcgowan.pitt.edu/ or visit http://mcgowaninstitute.upmc.com/ for information of interest to patients and the general public.

 

据eurekalert网站2006年11月13日报道，两名匹兹堡大学研究员荣膺“2006美国科学50强”。“2006美国科学50强”由《科学美国人》杂志编辑部负责评选，用于表彰那些在过去的一年中，为推动关键科技的发展起到关键作用的科研人员以及商界和政治界领导人。
　　
    来自匹兹堡大学麦克哥尔恩（McGowan）再生医学研究院和生物工程系的威廉姆•R•瓦格纳博士和迈克尔•萨克斯博士开发出技术可以激活全新的生物可降解聚合物平台，有朝一日，医疗人员将使用这种组织工程替代材料来替换损坏的肺动脉瓣和其它软组织。他们也因为这项研究而荣膺“2006美国科学50强”。
　　
    《科学美国人》杂志第12期将于11月21日发行，上面将出现“2006美国科学50强”，也可以在www.sciam.com网上看到“2006美国科学50强”的名单。

　　威廉姆•R•瓦格纳博士是麦克哥尔恩再生医学研究院副院长、匹兹堡大学医疗学院外科助理教授、匹兹堡大学化学工程系和生物工程系助理教授；迈克尔•萨克斯是匹兹堡大学工程学院生物工程系教授和麦克哥尔恩组织工程力学实验室主任。他们已经在许多项目上合作了5年多的时间，这些项目包括生物材料和组织力学。而他们最具特色的工作是开发出可以装载细胞的弹性联合体平台，这项研究引起了《科学美国人》杂志的关注。

　　在瓦格纳博士的实验室里，科研人员使用强大的电流场把细胞和联合体纳米纤维结合在一起，使得后者很快形成弹性组织状平台。该技术能够在纤维网络里安置细胞，达到了与人体自身组织内的细胞安置相同的水平。瓦格纳博士的实验室已经刻画并模拟出这些组织平台的功能，还展示出如何模仿人体肺动脉瓣复杂行为的方法。通过非常默契合作，瓦格纳博士和萨克斯博士提炼出设计人体组织的技术，该技术可以用于诸多医疗领域，包括治疗大面积拉伤和组织变形。

　　本年度“美国科学50强”中还包括来自麻省理工学院的材料化学家安吉拉•贝尔切尔博士，他荣膺本年度最佳科研领导人；来自瑞士苏黎世的全球保险商斯维斯•里荣膺本年度最佳商业领导人；美国前副总统阿尔•哥尔因他在防止全球变暧方面做出的努力而荣膺本年度最佳政治领导人。

　　麦克哥尔恩再生医学研究院由匹兹堡大学医疗学院和匹兹堡大学医学中心组建，主要研究有巨大潜力的组织工程学和其它技术，开发这些技术的目标是修复损坏或患病的组织和器官。