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Joseph P. Vacanti

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Joseph P. Vacanti
Born (1948-10-31) October 31, 1948 (age 76)
Omaha, NE
Alma materCreighton University (BS)
University of Nebraska (MD)
Harvard University (MS)
Scientific career
FieldsPediatric surgery
Tissue engineering
Regenerative medicine
InstitutionsMassachusetts General Hospital

Joseph Vacanti is an American pediatric surgeon and researcher who is the director of the Laboratory of Tissue Engineering and Organ Fabrication at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is the John Homans Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School.[1]

Along with Robert Langer, Eugene Bell, and Yuan-Cheng Fung, he is considered as a father of tissue engineering[2][3][4] with seminal contributions as co-author of the Principles of Tissue Engineering (with Langer, Robert Lanza, and Anthony Atala) and creation of the Vacanti mouse in 1997.

Vacanti was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2001.[5]

He graduated from Creighton University (BA), Harvard Medical School (MS), and University of Nebraska College of Medicine (MD).[6]

Biography

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Vacanti was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1948, the oldest of four brothers who are also scientists: Charles Vacanti, Martin, and Francis.[7][8] Following education at Creighton University and the University of Nebraska (MD 1974[9]), Vacanti trained in surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA, Boston Children's Hospital, and further specialized in transplantation at the University of Pittsburgh.[10]

He pursued additional training in the lab of cancer biologist Judah Folkman from 1977-1979[11] where he met frequent collaborator Robert Langer.[12] He was appointed surgeon-in-chief of the Massachusetts General Hospital for Children in 2003[13] and was the president of the American Pediatric Surgical Association from 2019-2020.[14]

Career

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A major focus of Vacanti's research has been the development of biomaterials and surgical techniques for tissue engineering, which he defined in 1993 as a field that "applies the principles of biology and engineering to the development of functional substitutes for damaged tissue."[15]

In 1988, Vacanti demonstrated the first biodegradable polymer scaffold for cell transplantation.[16][17][18] He is most well known for the development, along with Charles Vacanti and Linda Griffith of MIT, of the Vacanti mouse. He has published over 350 scientific papers.

He co-founded the journal Tissue Engineering[19] and was the founding president of the Tissue Engineering Society (which evolved into TERMIS), co-founded in 1994 with Charles Vacanti, Joseph Upton of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Tony Atala of Boston Children’s Hospital, Mark Randolph of the Massachusetts General Hospital and Linda Griffith of MIT.[20] Vacanti was awarded the lifetime achievement award from TERMIS in 2017.[21]

In his lab at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Vacanti advised or co-advised many prominent researchers in the field, including David J. Mooney and Antonios Mikos.[22]

Awards

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References

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  1. ^ Sundback, Cathryn; Vacanti, Joseph. "Tissue Engineering and Organ Fabrication Laboratory". Massachusetts General Hospital.
  2. ^ Heath, Daniel (2019-06-25). "30 years of tissue engineering, what has been achieved?". World Economic Forum (Interview).
  3. ^ "Father of Tissue Engineering Says Innovations Bring Hope". OSF Newsroom.
  4. ^ "Father of Tissue Engineering Says On Demand Organs Are Within Reach". PR Newswire.
  5. ^ "NAM member Listing" (PDF). National Academy of Medicine. May 2023.
  6. ^ "Profile: Joseph P. Vacanti, MD". World Stem Cell Summit.
  7. ^ "SCIENTISTS AT WORK -- JOSEPH, CHARLES, MARTIN AND FRANCIS VACANTI From Old Cars to Cartilage, Brothers Like to Tinker".
  8. ^ "Tribute to the Vacantis".
  9. ^ "University of Nebraska Medical Center".
  10. ^ "Profile: Joseph P. Vacanti, MD". World Stem Cell Summit.
  11. ^ Viola J, Lal B, Grad O (14 October 2003). The Emergence of Tissue Engineering as a Research Field (PDF) (Report). Abt Associates Inc. "Alternate webpage" – via nsf.gov.
  12. ^ "The Dynamic Duo of Tissue Engineering".
  13. ^ "Mass General Hospital for Children".
  14. ^ "APSA Past Presidents".
  15. ^ "Tissue Engineering. Science 1993 May 14;260(5110):920-6".
  16. ^ Vacanti, JP. "Selective cell transplantation using bioabsorbable artificial polymers as matrices". J Pediatr Surg. PMID 2895175.
  17. ^ Langer, Robert. "Advances in Tissue Engineering". J Pediatr Surg. PMID 26711689.
  18. ^ Berthiaume, François. "Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine: history, progress, and challenges". Annu Rev Chem Biomol Eng. PMID 22432625.
  19. ^ "IEEE Xplore".
  20. ^ Vacanti, Charles (2006). "The history of tissue engineering". J Cell Mol Med. PMID 16989721.
  21. ^ "TERMIS AM Awardees".
  22. ^ Sikavitsas, Vassilios I. "Introduction to Editorial Board Member: Professor Antonios (Tony) G. Mikos". Bioeng Transl Med. doi:10.1002/btm2.10155. PMC 6971437.
  23. ^ "SFB Past Awardees".
  24. ^ "Harvard Gazette".
  25. ^ "American Surgical Association".
  26. ^ "Jacobson Innovation Award".
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