Agneta Simionescu
The co-editor's short CV, as specified on the book preparation formMy research interests are in the area of cardiovascular tissue engineering, particularly in the host response to implanted tissue engineering products. Akin to the pathological modifications noticed in grafts implanted in diabetic patients, my group showed that collagen and elastin-based scaffolds implanted in diabetic animals were also adversely remodeled. Currently, my work focuses on understanding the mechanisms underlying diabetes-related complications that occur in implanted tissues, in order to develop viable tissue engineered grafts that could withstand these complications. I published and presented multiple peer reviewed papers and patents in the field of cardiovascular engineering (HI=16) and received several presentation awards. I serve as a grant reviewer for NIH and AHA and for several prominent journals. In my lab I have built a variety of bioreactors for heart valve, myocardial and vascular studies. Using these bioreactors we develop models for vascular complications in diabetes, using an optimized vascular bioreactor.