Dr. Jason A. Wertheim, MD, PhD
Chief Health Research Officer, University of Arizona
Vice Dean for Research and Graduate Studies, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson
Professor, Department of Surgery, Department of Cell and Molecular Medicine, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Arizona
Date: Friday, Sept. 4
Time: 1:30–2:20 p.m.
Location: SCOB 228
Faculty host: Sarah Stabenfeldt
Abstract
Our research centers on the engineering of novel tissues and organoids from pluripotent cells, and our scientific objectives have been shaped by the need for bioartificial tissues as substitutes for organ replacement and disease modeling for drug discovery. Our research encompasses liver, kidney and vascular tissues, and we have recent data and publications focusing on development of in vitro models of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, or FSGS, and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease-related steatohepatitis, or MASH.
This talk will focus on clinical objectives for tissue engineering, rationale for the development of novel tissues, and will present new and innovative data covering the synthesis of liver and kidney tissue. Specifically, we show the development of individual cell types within liver and kidney organoids that express markers specific for defined lineage commitment. Disease models of FSGS and MASH can be induced within these organoids by application of exogenous pathologic agents that lead to inflammation and cellular damage that replicates human disease. Finally, we show that these organoids can be used as a model for drug screening and are transplantable into in vivo models.
Biosketch
Dr. Wertheim is Chief Health Research Officer at the University of Arizona and Vice Dean for Research and Graduate Studies at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson, AZ. As a biomedical engineer and surgeon-scientist, he leads a NIH- and VA-funded laboratory that has been supported by three federal agencies including the DoD in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. He received his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and MD and PhD degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. He trained in general surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital of Harvard Medical School and he completed a fellowship in abdominal transplant surgery at UCLA.
His research centers on biomedical engineering, developing organoids from pluripotent cells and synthesizing biomaterials for tissue engineering applications. His laboratory also investigates the growth and differentiation of progenitor cells into mature tissues within biomaterial scaffolds to model disease or develop cells for therapy and tissue transplantation. Dr. Wertheim has been a member of the NIH (Re)Building a Kidney Consortium that develops kidney cell types and biomaterials to repair and regenerate renal tissue. He is one of multiple principal investigators on a new K12 career development grant funded by the NIH that is associated with the Clinical Translational Science Award, or CTSA, between the University of Arizona and the University of New Mexico. In 2019, he received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, or PECASE.
