Breuer Lab Staff

Nationwide Children's Hospital Medical Professional

Christopher Breuer, MD
Director; Principal Investigator
Christopher.Breuer@NationwideChildrens.org

Dr. Christopher K. Breuer is Director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital and holds the Nationwide Endowed Chair in Surgical Research. He also serves as Professor of Surgery and Deputy Vice Chair of Research at The Ohio State University (OSU), and Co-Director of the Tissue Engineering Program at OSU's Center for Regenerative Medicine and Cell Based Therapies.

As a pediatric surgeon and principal investigator, his clinical and translational research focuses on developing bioengineered tissue for surgical use. Working alongside the late Dr. Toshiharu Shinoka, he was the first in the world to tissue-engineer blood vessels and implant them in human infants. His laboratory continues this pioneering bench-to-bedside work, leading NIH-funded, multi-institutional clinical trials evaluating second-generation tissue-engineered vascular grafts (TEVG) for congenital heart surgery.

A recognized field leader, Dr. Breuer serves on the FDA’s Cellular, Tissue, and Gene Therapy Advisory Committee. He has received numerous honors for his scientific contributions, including the American College of Surgeons' prestigious Jacobson Promising Investigator Award, recognizing the nation's most innovative young surgical investigator.

Syed Faizullah Hussaini, MD

Syed Faizullah Hussaini, MD
Postdoctoral Scientist
SyedFaizullah.Hussaini@NationwideChildrens.org

Dr. Syed Faizullah Hussaini is a pediatric surgeon and physician-scientist with more than 20 years of experience in pediatric surgery and surgical research. He received his MD and PhD in Pediatric Surgery from Bogomolets National Medical University in Kyiv, Ukraine, and served as an Assistant Professor of Pediatric Surgery and pediatric surgeon at National Children’s Specialized Hospital “Okhmatdyt.”

Dr. Hussaini completed a fellowship in Pediatric Colorectal and Pelvic Reconstructive Surgery at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. His clinical and research interests include congenital diaphragmatic hernia, pediatric colorectal and reconstructive surgery, minimally invasive surgery, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine.

He joined the Center for Regenerative Medicine to pursue translational research in regenerative approaches to complex pediatric surgical conditions, including short bowel syndrome. He has authored more than 120 peer-reviewed publications and holds 22 registered patents related to pediatric surgical techniques and devices.

Nationwide Children's Research Staff

James Reinhardt, PhD
Senior Research Scientist
James.Reinhardt@NationwideChildrens.org

James is focused on regulatory approval and commercialization of the tissue engineered vascular graft. Efforts to support this goal include the design and development of a closed medical device for enriching mononuclear cells from a patient’s bone marrow and seeding them onto a bioresorbable scaffold at the point of care in the operating room. His research interests include using mouse and sheep models to investigate mechanisms of neotissue formation, the role of platelets in tissue regeneration and pathological remodeling, interventions to prevent graft narrowing, and mechanisms by which seeded bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells inhibit thrombosis and pathological remodeling.

Satoshi Yuhara

Satoshi Yuhara
Postdoctoral Scientist
Satoshi.Yuhara@NationwideChildrens.org

Satoshi is a cardiac surgeon from Japan. He earned his medical degree from Kanazawa University in 2009 and trained in the Department of Cardiac Surgery at Nagoya University before joining the Breuer Lab. His research focuses on evaluating tissue-engineered vascular grafts (TEVGs) in an ovine model and participating in experiments involving surgical procedures such as Fontan surgery. His ultimate goal is to translate TEVGs into clinical applications for congenital heart surgery.

Adrienne Morrison