Research in Action: - University of Calgary

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Deep in the ocean, hydrothermal vents spew out boiling water from inside the Earth, which then spirals upward and swirls into pockets of eddies. It was while studying this phenomenon in graduate school that Dr. Kristina Rinker, a University of Calgary biomedical engineering specialist, first drew a connection. “I realized there were actually some similarities with what’s going on in the human body,” says Rinker, an associate professor at the Schulich School of Engineering. 12 UofC Research in Action Targeting blood clots Still intrigued by this similarity years later, Rinker began studying how flowing blood can impact the way in which white blood cells stick to artery walls, a normal function of the immune system. For people with cardiovascular disease, something in this process gets out of balance, and over time, sores or plaques form in the spots where the white blood cells are concentrated. Eventually, these plaques can rupture, causing the formation of a clot that blocks the flow of blood and results in either a heart attack or a stroke. Rinker and her team of researchers in the Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Research Laboratory have developed experimental models that mimic the flow in blood vessels, and support cell cultures for long periods of time. These systems allow specific investigations into cardiovascular disease through a focus on “target cells”—the cells that line artery walls and act as gatekeepers for the passage of nutrients and biochemicals from the blood into the vessel tissue. “Now we can look molecularly inside the cell to investigate how blood flow properties influence plaque formation, and how new drugs may encourage plaque stabilization or regression [thus preventing blood clots], says Rinker, associate professor in both the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering and the Centre for Bioengineering Research and Education. Located in the university’s Calgary Centre for Innovative Technology, the lab has become an incubator of cutting-edge research that draws on the work of graduate students and worldclass expertise in multiple disciplines. Bridging the gaps “A lot of our work is just now starting to have an impact,” Rinker says. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in Canada and costs the health-care system more than $18 billion annually. Rinker hopes her research will eventually help make new cardiovascular therapies more effective. “We’re starting to get to some real novel approaches for cardiovascular stent design, testing and surgical procedures. The hope is that through integrating molecular and applied research approaches, the cardiovascular community will be able to understand each others’ problems more effectively, and we will achieve some major breakthroughs.” schulich.ucalgary.ca/biomedical schulich.ucalgary.ca/node/237 Dr. Kristina Rinker’s research focuses on mimicking the flow in blood vessels. This is important for preventing blood clots that cause heart attacks and strokes.
Dr. Kristina Rinker is developing models to better understand how blood flow can impact the behaviour of white blood cells in arteries. “I think the real advances are going to come together by bridging the gaps between the disciplines—science, engineering and medicine—and trying to get at health problems using a multi-pronged approach,” says Rinker. Cardio-Respiratory 13
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Page 5 and 6: Dr. Naweed Syed’s “brain on a c
Page 7 and 8: Dr. Garnette Sutherland was the fir
Page 9 and 10: Dr. Michael Colicos is using bio-co
Page 11 and 12: Medical Imaging Using tissue sensin
Page 13: Dr. Brad Goodyear is using MRI tech
Page 17 and 18: “The goal of my research is to de
Page 19 and 20: Graduate students Jana McMillan and
Page 21 and 22: Dr. Howard Ceri is using technology
Page 23 and 24: One element of Dr. Cy Frank’s res
Page 25 and 26: Dr. Janet Ronsky’s Eagle Brace is
Page 27 and 28: Unlike most people who remove tissu
Page 29 and 30: Dr. Andrea Clark is studying why th
Page 31 and 32: Dr. Nigel Shrive is sorting out whe
Page 33 and 34: Dr. John Matyas uses, among other t
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