Camila Hochman Mendez, MSc., PhD
Dr. Camila Hochman-Mendez is the Texas Heart Institute’s Assistant Director of Regenerative Medicine Research and Director of the Biorepository and Cell Profiling Lab. Dr. Hochman-Mendez’s research centers on the role of extracellular matrix proteins on cardiac stem cell differentiation, tissue repair, and regeneration. Show full bio
Dr. Hochman-Mendez received her Ph.D. in Biophysics from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). She completed a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Bioengineering from the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia in Spain, followed by a series of Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in tissue engineering research programs at the Institute of Biophysics Carlos Chagas Filho in Brazil. Prior to joining THI in 2017, Dr. Hochman-Mendez’s research at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, culminated in the first report characterizing the fractal dimension of a biomimetic version of laminin polymers (PolyLM) and several studies on PolyLM’s antifibrotic effects in iPSCs and small preclinical models.
As Director of the THI Biorepository and Cell Profiling Lab, Dr. Hochman-Mendez oversees a College of American Pathologists (CAP)-accredited biorepository core facility providing storage of critical biospecimens and performing phenotypic and function analyses to clinical investigators in the Texas Medical Center and nationwide. For the past eight years, the THI Biorepository and Cell Profiling Lab have served as a biorepository core facility to the NHLBI Cardiovascular Cell Therapy Research Network (CCTRN) and the Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network (CTSN).
As Assistant Director of the Regenerative Medicine Research department, Dr. Hochman-Mendez’s research program focuses on four areas:
1. Engineering of in vitro and ex vivo cardiovascular tissue models utilizing a combination of cells, biologically active molecules, and innate biological components.
2. Optimization of extracellular matrix-based culture systems for efficient induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) expansion and directed cardiomyocyte differentiation.
3. Development of a closed bioreactor system integrating mechanical and electrical stimulation and automated critical parameter monitoring for recellularizing whole organ scaffolds.
4. Investigations targeting basement membrane proteins and the regulation of their gene expression in cardiovascular development and disease pathogenesis.
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Texas Heart Institute Positions
- Assistant Investigator; Director, THI Biorepository and Cell Profiling Lab
- Assistant Investigator; Assistant Director, Regenerative Medicine Research
