PhD Proposal Presentation

Day: Thursday, May 21, 2015

Time: 9:00 AM

Location: Petit Institute 1128 (Suddath oom)

Thesis committee members: 

Edward A. Botchwey, PhD (Advisor)

Luke P. Brewster, MD 

Andrés J. García, PhD

Krishnendhu Roy, PhD

Philip J. Santangelo, PhD

Title: Spatiotemporally regulating monocyte recruitment with engineered hydrogels to improve vascularization and bone repair

Abstract: A major challenge in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine is re-vascularization of biosynthetic matrices and engineered vasculature is often limited in its capacity to support repair. For example, pro-angiogenic therapies such as VEGF have displayed limited success in bone repair, despite inducing significant re-vascularization. Monocytes have emerged as critical cellular mediators that promote wound healing, angiogenesis, and improve coupling between nascent vasculature and remodeling tissue. The overall hypothesis for the proposed research is that tuning monocyte retention within engineered hydrogels can improve vascularization and promote healing after bone injury. We will first investigate how regulating monocyte recruitment with the sphingolipid therapeutic FTY720 impacts the generation of functional vascular networks in degradable VEGF-loaded PEG hydrogels in vivo. Next, we will explore whether temporally-delayed presentation of photo-activated adhesive peptides impacts the capacity of implanted hydrogels to promote repair.  Using a cranial bone defect window chamber model, we will integrate powerful in situ visualization of monocyte-biomaterial interactions with functional assessments to investigate how leukocyte interactions with engineered materials impact vascularization and bone repair.