Cellular Hitchhiking on Microparticles to Alleviate Skin Injury
Department
Chemical and Biochemical Engineering
Major
Chemical Engineering
Research Advisor
Barua, Sutapa
Advisor's Department
Chemical and Biochemical Engineering
Funding Source
Principal Investigator’s Start-Up
Abstract
Regenerative medicine holds great potential for the future treatment of acute burn injury. However, current skin graft technology does not provide any structural support to transplanted cells, and it also causes scar formation. To combat these challenges, the present study focuses on a rapidly developing field of research: engineering microparticles to provide structural support to cells while in suspension.
Microparticles have tremendous potential as scaffolding systems to carry multiple exogenous cells because of their high surface area to volume ratio. Microparticles can further be utilized as growth factor delivery systems to promote cell proliferation.
In this study, microparticles are synthesized from poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), a biodegradable copolymer. Fibronectin, a glycoprotein involved in wound healing, is conjugated onto the surface of PLGA microparticles for seeding viable cells. Cells will be grown in suspension on the microparticles. We call it “cellular hitchhiking”. This de novo technique has versatile applications including skin regeneration.
Biography
Chase Evan Herman is a 2nd-year undergraduate student from the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. Since his middle school days, Chase has enthusiastically participated in many research and design projects. During high school, he twice competed in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), with projects firstly in civil engineering and then biochemistry. While in Los Angeles for ISEF, he was privileged to personally meet Robert Horvitz, a Nobel laureate. Listening to Dr. Horvitz and other laureates talk about their work set Chase’s excitement for scientific research ablaze. Chase returned to this lab last summer. Furthermore, he served as a tutor for general chemistry during the fall 2015 semester. Currently, Chase is diligently progressing in his studies and is actively involved in Dr. Sutapa Barua’s biomaterials lab.
Research Category
Engineering
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Document Type
Poster
Award
Engineering poster session, First place
Location
Upper Atrium/Hallway
Presentation Date
11 Apr 2016, 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Cellular Hitchhiking on Microparticles to Alleviate Skin Injury
Upper Atrium/Hallway
Regenerative medicine holds great potential for the future treatment of acute burn injury. However, current skin graft technology does not provide any structural support to transplanted cells, and it also causes scar formation. To combat these challenges, the present study focuses on a rapidly developing field of research: engineering microparticles to provide structural support to cells while in suspension.
Microparticles have tremendous potential as scaffolding systems to carry multiple exogenous cells because of their high surface area to volume ratio. Microparticles can further be utilized as growth factor delivery systems to promote cell proliferation.
In this study, microparticles are synthesized from poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), a biodegradable copolymer. Fibronectin, a glycoprotein involved in wound healing, is conjugated onto the surface of PLGA microparticles for seeding viable cells. Cells will be grown in suspension on the microparticles. We call it “cellular hitchhiking”. This de novo technique has versatile applications including skin regeneration.
