Todd
Rosengart, MD
Professor
Cardiothoracic Surgery
Evanston Northwestern Healthcare
The Laboratory of Cardiac Gene Therapy
To Contact Dr. Rosengart:
phone: 847-570-2868
email: trosengart@enh.org
Dr. Rosengart's website
Research Interests
The major areas of investigation for Todd Rosengart’s laboratory
include the examination of gene therapy for the induction of therapeutic angiogenesis,
angiogenic therapy for the treatment of ischemic cardiomyopathy, and cell
transfer for the treatment of myocardial infarction. Their clinical research
includes the conduct of several trials of angiogenic gene therapy for the
treatment of coronary artery disease, examination of mechanisms underlying
coronary graft patency in off-pump applications, and testing of a number of
new cardiac surgery devices and pharmacologic interventions. Both their clinical
and lab research are funded by NIH support, institutional grants and industry
sponsorship.
Dr. Rosengart’s
laboratory’s examination of angiogenic gene therapy expands upon their
efforts over the past five years that resulted in the first clinical application
in the U.S. of a gene therapy vector for the treatment of coronary artery
disease. While these trials are ongoing, our current efforts seek to better
define, in large and small animal models of ischemia, the optimal means of
inducing therapeutic angiogenesis and develop our understanding of the mechanisms
underlying angiogenesis. Among other studies, the use of synergistic transgenes
and delivery methods are being investigated. Recent studies in their lab,
for example, have demonstrated that angiogenesis can be induced in ono-ischemic
tissues, raising the possibility of prophylactic gene therapy.
A new area of investigation involves the harvest, culture and implantation of bone marrow stem cells into myocardial infarction for the purpose of re-populating myocardial scar with functioning tissue (cellular cardiomyoplasty). Studies being conducted in this effort extend existing areas of expertise in the lab, including the in vivo use of sonomicrometry and echocardiography, physiologic analyses of cardiac function in vivo and in vitro, cell culture, and development of novel gene constructs.