Phone (Work):  (314) 362-3345

Phone (Mobile1): (314) 304-3953

Phone (Mobile2): (314) 814-3699

Email: malihi1@yahoo.com

Email 2: gxm2025@bjc.org

Education

PharmD - school of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences

MPH- School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences

PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology- Tehran University of Medical Sciences

Research Interests

Tissue engineering enables cells to grow, proliferate, and function in a suitable environment to contribute to the repair, replacement and regeneration of damaged organs. The spectrum of stem cells and scaffolds for their potential applications in 3-D engineered tissue has been broadly reviewed and investigated. The tissue made through genetic manipulation of stem cells could mimic the characteristics of all kinds of human organ tissues including cardiovascular organ tissues. The tissue is not only suitable for organ replacement therapy, but also practically could be a substitute for native tissue as a test bed for drug screening purposes.

Fabrication of an artificial tissue to function similarly to the native tissue has always been an important challenging requirement for a successful drug screening test or target validation. Tissue responses to every possible stimulus should be tested for their functionality and performance compared to the relevant native tissue. Engineered heart tissue (EHT) has been tested for its mechanical, biophysical, and physiological properties, in which the findings could help to improve tissue characteristics. For instance cardiomyocytes, in a 3-D tissue similar to skeletal muscle cells, increase active force development in response to increased preload (Frank-Starling mechanism).

One of the important qualifications that allows the native tissue to challenge itself in different conditions are the compensatory/adaptive mechanisms such as hypoxia, rate-dependent properties, tissue response to hypokalemia and restitution of action potential duration. Our interest in this field is to evaluate the biophysical, physiological and pharmacological response of the tissue to adaptive changes compared to the natural tissue. Future directions are: to measure the quality of tissue response to restitution-induced arrhythmia (ventricular fibrillation), to define the pattern of the restitution curve and to prevent arrhythmia through agents that flatten the restitution curve. These tests are helpful criteria to improve engineered heart tissue for drug screening tests.