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Bioengineering Seminar |
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| Category: | College of Engineering - BNG |
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| Date & Time: |
Tuesday , 10/16/2012 from 12:30 PM to 01:45 PM |
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| Location: | Tex 102 | |
| Admission: | Free! | |
| Contact: |
Qinguo Fan qinguo.fan@umassd.edu 508-999-9147 |
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| Description: |
Topic: Mimicking Structure, Biomechanical Microenvironments, and Dynamic Nature of
Tissues and Their Applications Speaker: Dr. Soonjo Kwon, Assistant Professor and Director, Integrated Tissue Engineering Laboratory (ITEL), Department of Biological Engineering, Utah State University Abstract: We characterized the response of the engineered lung tissue to a physical denudation and compressive stress wound to the epithelium that mimics the pattern observed in asthma and demonstrated the possible application to health risk assessment of human exposure to air pollutants and nanopal1icles. We suggested two viable alternatives to in vivo models to evaluate the health risk of human exposure to external pel1urbation. In addition to mimicking structure and dynamic nature of the tissues, we are also interested in the effects of material propel1ies and mechanical stress fields on the specific functions of the tissues of interest. All cells or tissues are exposed to specific microenvironments that are generated locally at the micro- or nano-scale level by cell-cell, cell-soluble factor, or cell-extracellular matrix interactions which influences cell functions in their tissues. Especially, each cell type is specifically tuned to the specific microenvironments in which it resides. Neural cell growth, survival and differentiation are favored by a highly compliant matrix. In contrast to neural cells, osteoblast differentiation and survival occurs preferentially on stiffer extracellular matrices. As a preliminary experiment, we incorporated different concentrations and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) into reconstituted type I collagen, and evaluated proliferation, differentiation, and mineralization of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on these MWCNT-collagen scaffolds. MWCNTs were strongly entrapped in collagen at MWCNT concentrations below 100 ppm. Alkaline phosphatase (AP) activity and mineralized nodules of extracellular matrix (ECM) were monitored as osteogenic differentiation markers. MWCNT-collagen scaffolds induced significantly higher level of AP activity than collagen scaffold and increased ECM mineralization 12 days after replacement with differentiating media. The increase in MSC differentiation and mineralization may be due to the increased stiffness and tensile strength of MWCNT-collagen scaffolds. |
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| Additional Info: | Dr. Kwon's Profile | |
