AHA Postdoctoral Fellowship Awarded to Hamed Alavi

Jan. 27, 2016 - The American Heart Association (AHA) has awarded a two-year Postdoctoral Fellowship to Hamed Alavi to support his project on a hybrid tissue-engineered heart valve. Alavi, a biomedical engineering postdoctoral researcher in Professor Arash Kheradvar’s lab, has been working for about six years on a new valve that aims to combine patient’s own cells with a metal alloy mesh, providing a potentially self-regenerative function with better durability. The AHA funding allows Alavi to move forward with analyzing the valves’ function and biocompatibility in a series of animal studies. 

“We believe this new hybrid technology will significantly improve a patient’s quality of life by eliminating the need for lifelong medications without compromising the durability of the valve,” said Alavi. “This is particularly beneficial for younger patients who are in need of a heart valve replacement.”

Previous and current supporters of this research include Children’s Heart Foundation, UC Center for Accelerated Innovation, UC Irvine’s Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, and Edward Lifesciences Foundation.