Spartan Profiles: Michael Sacks

GROWING HUMAN VALVULAR TISSUE

            The idea of creating replacement heart muscle and valvular tissue from scratch in a laboratory may sound like science fiction, but today some bio-engineers have created a bio-degradable, polymer-based scaffold that works just like a pulmonary heart valve.  Such cutting edge research by Michael S. Sacks, ’81, M.S. ’83, the William Kepler Whiteford Professor in Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Engineering and director of the McGowan Institute’s Engineered Tissue Mechanics Laboratory, has earned him a spot in the prestigious 2006 Scientific American 50, a list of the top 50 researchers in science and technology. 

            “The notice arrived in an envelope and I thought it was a renewal notice for Scientific American,” recalls Sacks.  “Once I realized what it was, I said ‘Wow.’” 

            Michael says his research is highly collaborative and made possible by a unique, talented team, which includes Pitt colleague William Wagner, who developed the materials and fabrication methods for creating the scaffolds, and John Mayer, pediatric congenital surgeon at the Boston Children’s Hospital, who focuses on the surgical research and clinical translation. 

            Michael’s role was to mechanically model the tissue scaffolds, demonstrate how they mimic the complex behavior of the human pulmonary valve, and use these insights to develop methods for designing living tissue engineered valves.  “This type of collaboration is typical of modern bio-engineering,” explains Michael.  “No one person can do it alone.” 

            A native of Southfield, Michael chose to attend MSU because of its strong program in bio-mechanics.  He cites professors like Drs. Yoram Lanir, who was at MSU while on sabbatical from the Technion University from 1979-81, and Robert Hubbard, his master’s thesis advisor. 

             “My undergraduate and initial graduate education at MSU laid the basis for my career,” he notes.  And after the recent accolade from Scientific American, he and his team have received grants from the National Institute of Health totaling $6 million for the next five years.