BRETT G. ZANI, PhD – CBSET DIRECTOR OF APPLIED SCIENCES

CELEBRATING 12 YEARS AT CBSET... Dr. Brett Zani joined the CBSET team in 2010. His biomedical research background ranges from molecular cardiology and cancer biology to cardiovascular physiology and tissue regeneration. He holds an MS and PhD in Cellular and Integrative Physiology from Indiana University School of Medicine.

TWO THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT DR. BRETT ZANI

1: He is a well-rounded scientific authority.

Brett has co-authored 58 abstracts and peer-reviewed articles on topics ranging from splenic artery denervation to intercellular communication and cell migration, and he is a co-inventor on two patents and two pending patents. He leads the study director group at CBSET, where he is intimately involved in the evaluation of new medical therapies.

“My roles include directing studies and supporting our study director team. Collectively, we are involved in projects supporting research and development of medical devices, cell-based therapies, and pharmaceuticals,” he says. “As a not-for-profit preclinical/translational research institute, CBSET is dedicated to providing a collaborative/multidisciplinary approach through unbiased scientific advice, extensive regulatory expertise, and a drive to understand how mechanisms of action can be applied to support product differentiation, all of which, when combined, creates an innovative and iterative approach to accelerating clinical development.”

2: He is a scientist's scientist.

As a postdoctoral associate at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology prior to joining CBSET, Brett worked in the laboratory of Dr. Elazer Edelman, Director of Medical Engineering and Science at MIT. Brett investigated the ability of tissue-engineered cell implants to repair airway injury, discovering tissue-engineered endothelial and epithelial cells differentially and synergistically mediate airway repair. In addition, he investigated the biology of epithelial cell interactions with other cell types and discovered novel mechanisms of epithelial cell migration and intercellular signaling, which earned him a ‘Koch Institute Image Award’ (2012) for his image (below): "Crossing Over: Cells Move Through an Epithelial Bridge” (https://ki-galleries.mit.edu/2012/zani). His scientific publications have appeared in peer-reviewed journals including Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Science Translational Medicine, Biomaterials, Translational Research, and the Journal of Controlled Release, among many others.