Firuz Gamal Feturi, BS and PhD candidate was awarded first place for her poster presentation in the medical device category during the McGowan Research Retreat March 2018. Feturi’s abstract was titled Enzyme Responsive-Release Hydrogel for Targeted Immunosuppression in Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation.
For the first time in organ transplantation, a drug delivery system ” GEL-IT ™”, was developed that can provide sustained drug release but also on-cue triggered drug release in response to MMP-2 and MMP-9 that are significantly upregulated during rejection in graft tissues, minimizing overall drug exposure and facilitating long-term VCA survival with no systemic complications.

Feturi, is a fifth year clinical pharmaceutical science graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy. Professor Raman Venkataramaan, PhD is her faculty advisor and Mario Solari, MD is her Co-mentor.

Photo Above: Steven D. Shapiro, MD. Executive Vice President, UPMC. Chief Medical and Scientific Officer and Firuz Feturi

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