This Research Topic celebrates the 50th anniversary of the first heart transplant performed in December of 1967 in Cape Town, South Africa. Cardiovascular researchers met in South Africa in December 2017 to commemorate this event, presenting an opportune time to reflect on the achievements of applied cardiovascular research and highlight forthcoming technology developments that will shape the future of cardiovascular medicine. The clinical breakthrough in 1967 offered hope to many patients suffering with cardiac complications, and these life-saving surgeries continue to have a tremendous impact. Tissue shortages, surgical risks, and complications due to improper host-transplant tissue interactions, however, limit the utility of heart transplants to the most severe cases of cardiac morbidity. Recent advances have yielded mechanistic insight into the factors that control cardiovascular tissue maintenance and remodeling. The field of regenerative medicine seeks to control these factors to promote in situ tissue regeneration or engineered tissue replacement. These exciting new technologies could lead to a renaissance in the treatment of many cardiovascular diseases, just as the realization of heart transplantation 50 years ago. In this Research Topic, researchers and clinicians from regenerative medicine and applied cardiovascular biology provide literature reviews and original manuscripts to demonstrate the trajectory of cardiovascular medicine. The contributions vertically integrate advances by clinicians, engineers, and basic scientists, all researching similar topics from different angles and with complementary perspectives. Taken together, these contributions demonstrate the process of applied cardiovascular research from basic science discoveries to implementation in clinical practice.

This book is a comprehensive and up-to-date resource on the use of regenerative medicine for the treatment of cardiovascular disease. It provides a much-needed review of the rapid development and evolution of bio-fabrication techniques to engineer cardiovascular tissues as well as their use in clinical settings. The book incorporates recent advances in the biology, biomaterial design, and manufacturing of bioengineered cardiovascular tissue with their clinical applications to bridge the basic sciences to current and future cardiovascular treatment. The book begins with an examination of state-of-the-art cellular, biomaterial, and macromolecular technologies for the repair and regeneration of diseased heart tissue. It discusses advances in nanotechnology and bioengineering of cardiac microtissues using acoustic assembly. Subsequent chapters explore the clinical applications and translational potential of current technologies such as cardiac patch-based treatments, cell-based regenerative therapies, and injectable hydrogels. The book examines how these methodologies are used to treat a variety of cardiovascular diseases including myocardial infarction, congenital heart disease, and ischemic heart injuries. Finally, the volume concludes with a summary of the most prominent challenges and perspectives on the field of cardiovascular tissue engineering and clinical cardiovascular regenerative medicine. Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine is an essential resource for physicians, residents, fellows, and medical students in cardiology and cardiovascular regeneration as well as clinical and basic researchers in bioengineering, nanomaterial and technology, and cardiovascular biology.

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This Volume of the series Cardiac and Vascular Biology offers a comprehensive and exciting, state-of-the-art work on the current options and potentials of cardiac regeneration and repair. Several techniques and approaches have been developed for heart failure repair: direct injection of cells, programming of scar tissue into functional myocardium, and tissue-engineered heart muscle support. The book introduces the rationale for these different approaches in cell-based heart regeneration and discusses the most important considerations for clinical translation. Expert authors discuss when, why, and how heart muscle can be salvaged. The book represents a valuable resource for stem cell researchers, cardiologists, bioengineers, and biomedical scientists studying cardiac function and regeneration.

Regenerative medicine is broadly defined as the repair or replacement of damaged cells, tissues and organs. It is a multidisciplinary effort in which technologies derive from the fields of cell, developmental and molecular biology; chemical and material sciences (i.e. nanotechnology); engineering; surgery; transplantation; immunology; molecular genetics; physiology; and pharmacology. As regenerative medicine technologies continue to evolve and expand across the boundaries of numerous scientific disciplines, they remain at the forefront of the translational research frontier with the potential to radically alter the treatment of a wide variety of disease and dysfunction. This book will draw attention to the critical role that pharmacological sciences will undeniably play in the advancement of these treatments. This book is invaluable for advanced students, postdoctoral fellows, researchers new to the field of regenerative medicine/tissue engineering, and experienced investigators looking for new research avenues. The first state-of-the-art book in this rapidly evolving field of research.