Myocardial infarction (MI) is the leading cause of cardiovascular deaths and disability in the industrialized world. Although stem cells have been injected into hearts to limit MI damage, < 4% of stem cells remain in the heart for > 1 hour due to myocardial contractility which causes the rapid egress of the stem cells through the cardiac veins and lymphatics. We hypothesized that stem cells in chitosan gels would remain longer in the heart and therefore be more beneficial in MI repair....

Infertility affects 15% of couples worldwide. It is estimated that roughly half of the infertility cases are due to male factors. Male infertility could be caused by various reasons including failure in spermatogenesis, defects in sperm transportation or accessory gland function, genetic or environmental factors, and sexual disorders. Among these causes, spermatogenic defect is the primary one in male infertility. Spermatogenesis is a sophisticated multistep process involving three major phases:...

An efficient and practical ex vivo expansion of cord blood hematopoietic stem cells as an alternative source of HSC transplantation is crucial in understanding the potential of HSC transplantation in treating or supportive therapy in a variety of hematologic and non-hematologic disorders. The aim of this study was an ex vivo expansion of cord blood hematopoietic stem cells in a novel three-dimensional polycaprolactone nanofiber scaffold coated with collagen....