Sanjiv Dhingra

Biography

Dr. Sanjiv Dhingra is an Assistant Professor in the Regenerative Medicine Program, Department of Physiology, University of Manitoba. Prior to joining as a faculty member in University of Manitoba, Dr. Dhingra received postdoctoral training in McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine, Toronto General Hospital and in the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, St. Boniface Hospital Research Centre in Winnipeg. He received postdoctoral fellowship awards from CIHR and MHRC with high rankings. In October 2007, Dr. Dhingra received an award from Life Science Association of Manitoba for his contribution to cardiovascular research. In May 2010 he received the Early Career Investigator Award from the International Society of Heart Research in Kyoto, Japan. Recently, Dr. Dhingra was a finalist for the Vivien Thomas Young Investigator Award at American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in Los Angeles. In addition to his research program, Dr. Dhingra is also responsible for directing the Canada Italy Tissue Engineering Laboratory (CITEL), a collaboration between the University of Rome “Tor Vergata” and the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, St. Boniface Research Centre. Under his supervision CITEL will develop innovative technologies for biomaterials and will define pioneering procedures for cardiac tissue engineering.

Research Interest

Dr. Dhingra’s laboratory focuses on various aspects of cardiac regeneration and myocardial tissue engineering using stem cell-based and biomaterials-based approaches to restore function following a cardiac injury. Clinical translation of stem cell based approaches depends upon in-depth knowledge of the donor stem cell and it is very important to develop a strong understanding of the survival pattern of donor cells following transplantation in the injured myocardium. Dr. Dhingra’s immediate interests are to investigate the basic mechanisms of immune-rejection of transplanted allogeneic (unrelated donor) mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), embryonic stem (ES) cells, induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells in the heart in order to develop strategies to enhance the survival of these cells and successfully repair damaged myocardium. He is also interested in developing clinically relevant biomaterials for myocardial tissue engineering and developing the strategies to increase host immune tolerance to prevent the rejection of biodegradable patches and scaffolds seeded with stem cells and implanted into the injured heart.