Rice wins $1.2 million for heart-valve tissue research
(Rice University) A team of bioengineers from Rice University is bringing a promising new strategy for growing replacement heart valves closer to reality, thanks to a four-year, $1.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. The team hopes to develop gel-like materials that can simultaneously mimic the complex structural and physical properties of heart-valve tissues and act as three-dimensional patterns for tissue-forming stem cells.