image: This is Kytai Nguyen, UT Arlington associate professor of bioengineering. view more
Credit: UT Arlington
Associate bioengineering professor Kytai Nguyen has been elected as a fellow of the American Heart Association, an honor conferred by the national organization's Council on Basic Cardiovascular Sciences.
Nguyen, who joined The University of Texas at Arlington in 2005, specializes in cellular engineering. Her research also involves tissue engineering, drug delivery and stem cell therapies.
Liping Tang, interim chairman of the UT Bioengineering Department, nominated Nguyen and said her work helps build healthier lives and offers patients who battle cardiovascular disease a better quality of life.
"Her projects help us to understand factors in the development of cardiovascular diseases, including atherosclerosis and restenosis so that better strategies to combat these diseases could be developed," Tang said.
Nguyen currently is working with the American Heart Association on a new method that would use injected nanoparticles to recruit stem cells from a patient's own blood to build stents needed in that patient's failing blood vessels.
In another project, Nguyen is working with UT Southwestern researchers to develop a nanoparticle drug delivery system.
Nguyen also was the recipient of the Scientist Development Award from the National American Heart Association in 2007.
Nguyen's work is representative of research excellence at The University of Texas at Arlington, a comprehensive institution of more than 33,300 students and 2,200 faculty members in the heart of North Texas. Visit http://www.uta.edu to learn more.