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GO BUCS!Rocky Tuan holds a tiny terracotta–colored pirate ship. The realtreasure in the buccaneers’ boat isthe promise it holds in repairingknees, hips, and other joints ravagedby injury or disease.As director of the Center forCellular and Molecular Engineeringin Pitt’s Department of OrthopaedicSurgery, Tuan and postdoctoralassociate Hang Lin created theship with a 3-D printer, paid forby Pitt’s Clinical and TranslationalScience Institute, which they saywill one day create natural polymerimplants that contain the patient’sown living cells to repair joints.Tuan hopes to see the processbecome commonplace in his lifetime.Along with maintaining thepatient’s natural bone and tissue,the procedure would greatly reducethe amount of invasive surgery,recovery time, and cost involvedwith traditional joint replacement.And that’s plenty of reason to raisethe Jolly Roger.—Text and photo by John AltdorferAppointmentsJian-Min Yuan, an MD/PhD, will lead the Cancer Epidemiology,Prevention, and Control Program in the University of Pittsburgh CancerInstitute. He will also serve as professor of epidemiology in Pitt’s GraduateSchool of Public Health (GSPH) and associate director of cancer preventionand population science at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute.Yuan is interested in how environment, diet, behavior, and geneticsinfluence cancer. His investigations have included the potential rolesthat green tea, incense, and volatiles released by Chinese home cookingmight play in the disease. Yuan is a principal investigator on four NationalInstitutes of Health–funded projects; he comes to Pittsburghfrom the University of Minnesota.One of the U.K.’s foremost ophthalmic surgeons is nowchief of the Division of Pediatric Ophthalmology at Children’sHospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, director of Pediatric ProgramDevelopment at UPMC Eye Center, and visiting professor ofophthalmology at Pitt. Kanwal “Ken” Nischal came toYuanPittsburgh last fall from Great Ormond Street Hospital forChildren in London. In addition to his experience as a pediatriceye surgeon, Nischal has developed treatment algorithmsthat include innovative surgical techniques for children bornwith opaque corneas.Nathan Yates, a PhD, has been named associate professorof cell biology in the School of Medicine and scientificdirector of Pitt’s Biomedical Mass Spectrometry Center. Ascodirector of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute’sCancer Biomarkers Facility, Yates will pursue research on the discoveryand measurement of protein biomarkers that may be usedto detect disease early and help doctors select the best treatments.Prior to joining Pitt, Yates was scientific director for theDepartment of Exploratory and Translational Science at Merck &Co., where he codeveloped differential mass spectrometry. At Pitt,Yates plans to collaborate with scientists from leading academicinstitutions to develop a groundbreaking cloud computing platformfor the storage and analysis of proteomics data.As of April, the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicinehas a new director and associate director. Professor of SurgeryWilliam Wagner, a PhD who takes over as director, is oneof the institute’s founders. Wagner’s research into cardiovascularengineering, focusing both on the monitoring of existingequipment and the development of new technologies, involvesgraduate and postdoctoral researchers from a broad range ofspecialties and has resulted in numerous patent filings and awards forinnovation. McGowan’s new associate director is Rocky Tuan (shownwith miniature ship above), a PhD and the Arthur J. Rooney Sr. Professorof Sports Medicine in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. Beforecoming to Pittsburgh in 2009, Tuan served as chief of the CartilageBiology and Orthopaedics Branch of the National Institute of Arthritis andMusculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. Tuan’s research has run the gamutfrom the development of the musculoskeletal system, to cell biochemistry,nanotechnology, and tissue-regeneration technology. —JHYatesWagnerNischal6 PITTMED
CLOSERRUB MY BELLY 101Nola, a muscular and squirmy Staffordshire terrier of an almost metallicgray hue, was lounging in the Cathedral of Learning on a winter Tuesdayevening. The wind blew cold outside, and as University of Pittsburghstudents made their way in from the chill Nola leapt into action—okay,lounged into action. As hand after hand petted her short, soft coat, shesmiled, kissed, and wiggled.Aaah . . . that’ll take the edge off a stressful day.It really does, too, says Dawn Marcus, an MD professor in the Departmentof Anesthesiology at the University of Pittsburgh. Marcus is a painresearcher and author of The Power of Wagging Tails: A Doctor’s Guide toDog Therapy and Healing (Demos Health, 2011). “[Therapy dogs] lowerheart rate, blood pressure, and respiratory rate. Endorphins go up. Thereare substantial and long-lasting physiological changes,” she says.So how do dogs get schooled for the clinic and other therapy environments?Here’s one way: Top off a rigorous certification program byallowing hundreds of students to canoodle with the pooches. The CollegeCanines have been visiting the Cathedral every Tuesday evening whenclass is in session for years now. Nola and her cohort of about 10 otherbeasties are accompanied by volunteers from the Western PennsylvaniaHumane Society, which sponsors the program. Students stop to kiss andpet and coo and snap photos to share with family. Some say they misstheir own hounds, and the College Canines help alleviate some homesickness.Marsha Robbins, an educator with the Humane Society, therapy dogtrainer, and all-around pooch pusher, says, “The students seem to findthis a very relaxing time. The dogs love it, too. They start to wiggle theirtails when they know they’re coming here.” —Joe Miksch—Photo by Martha RialSUMMER 2012 75
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