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Andrea Banfi directs the Cell and Gene Therapy group at Basel University Hospital, in the Departments of Biomedicine and of Surgery. His research focus is the understanding of the basic principles governing the growth of blood vessels and translating this knowledge into the development of novel therapies for: 1) ischemic diseases, such as myocardial infarction and peripheral ischemia; and 2) controlled vascularization in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications. The goal is to restore the blood supply in ischemic tissue, or to ensure the induction of a functional vascular network in tissue engineered constructs, by the delivery of growth factors that control the formation of new blood vessels. This is achieved by genetically engineering suitable progenitors to express controlled levels and combinations of angiogenic factors. This approach has the potential to provide both angiogenic stimulation and tissue regeneration, combining the specific advantages of cell therapy and gene therapy. We are developing novel methods to deliver the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor gene alone or in combination with maturation factors, in order to increase safety and expand its therapeutic window in vivo. We are further applying these methods to mesenchymal progenitors to achieve bone and cardiac regeneration.
The Cell and Gene Therapy group has several collaborations in Basel, as well as nationally and internationally, such as at EPFL in Lausanne, and at Columbia University in New York. It is also part of 3 European Consortia working on the control of angiogenesis in regenerative medicine: ANGIOSCAFF ( www.angioscaff.eu), Disc Regeneration ( www.disc-regeneration.eu) and MAGISTER ( www.magister-project.eu).
Original publications
- Banfi A, Muraglia A, Dozin B, Mastrogiacomo M, Cancedda R. and Quarto R. (2000). Proliferation kinetics and differentiation potential of ex vivo expanded human bone marrow stromal cells: implications for their use in cell therapy. Experimental Hematology 28:707-715.
- Banfi A, Bianchi G, Notaro R, Luzzatto L, Cancedda R. and Quarto R. (2002). Replicative aging and gene expression in long-term cultures of human bone marrow stromal cells. Tissue Eng. 8:901-910.
- Bianchi G.* and Banfi A*, Mastrogiacomo M, Notaro R, Luzzatto L, Cancedda R. and Quarto R. (2003). Ex vivo enrichment of mesenchymal cell progenitors by FGF-2. Experimental Cell Research 28:98-105.
- Ozawa CR,* Banfi A,* Glazer N, Thurston G, Springer ML, Kraft PE, McDonald DM. and Blau HM. (2004). Microenvironmental VEGF concentration, not total dose, determines a threshold between normal and aberrant angiogenesis. Journal of Clinical Investigation 113:516-527.
- von Degenfeld G, Banfi A, Springer ML, Jacobi J, Ozawa CR, Merchant MJ, Cooke JP. and Blau HM. (2006). Microenvironmental concentration of VEGF is critical to stable and functional vessel growth in ischemia.FASEB Journal 20:2657-2659.
- Misteli H, Wolff T, Füglistaler P, Gianni-Barrera R, Gürke L, Heberer M, Banfi A. (2010). High-throughput flow cytometry purification of transduced progenitors expressing defined levels of vascular endothelial growth factor induces controlled angiogenesis in vivo. Stem Cells 28:611-619.
Reviews
- Blau HM. and Banfi A. (2001). The well-tempered vessel. Nature Medicine 7:532-534.
- Banfi A, Springer ML. and Blau HM. (2002). Myoblast-mediated gene transfer for therapeutic angiogenesis. Methods in Enzymology 346:145-157.
- Banfi A, von Degenfeld G. and Blau HM. (2005) Critical role of microenvironmental factors in angiogenesis. Current Atherosclerosis Reports 7:227-234.
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