Cell therapy expert Doris Taylor moves to Texas Heart
 |
| Doris Taylor, PhD Source: Texas Heart Institute |
Taylor's research includes cell and gene therapy for treatment of cardiovascular disease; tissue engineering of bioartificial organs and vasculature; cell-based prevention of disease; stem cells and cancer; and holistic approaches to using cell therapy for treating chronic disease.
Most recently, Taylor and her team’s work involved "whole organ decellularization," in which they showed they can remove the existing cells from hearts of laboratory animals and even humans to leave a framework for building new organs. By then repopulating the framework with another human's adult stem cells and giving it a blood supply, the heart regenerates, taking on the characteristics and functions of a revitalized beating heart. The hope is that this research is an early step toward being able to grow a fully functional human heart in Texas Heart Institute's laboratory, according to the institute.
Taylor has been serving as director of the Center for Cardiovascular Repair and Medtronic Bakken Chair in integrative biology and physiology at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Prior to that, she was on the faculty as associate professor of cardiology at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C.
A native of Mississippi, Taylor holds a BS in biology from Mississippi University for Women and a doctorate in pharmacology from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas.