Freeze-Dried Porous Collagen Scaffolds for the Repair of Volumetric Muscle Loss Injuries.

Volumetric muscle loss (VML) injuries are characterized by the traumatic loss of skeletal muscle, resulting in permanent damage to both tissue architecture and electrical excitability. To address this challenge, we previously developed a three-dimensional (3D) aligned collagen-glycosaminoglycan (CG) scaffold platform that supported myotube alignment and maturation. In this work, we assessed the ability of CG scaffolds to facilitate functional muscle recovery in a rat tibialis anterior (TA) model of VML.

Direct M2 macrophage co-culture overrides viscoelastic hydrogel mechanics to promote fibroblast activation.

Fibroblast activation drives fibrotic diseases such as pulmonary fibrosis. However, the complex interplay of how tissue mechanics and macrophage signals combine to influence fibroblast activation is not well understood. Here, we use hyaluronic acid hydrogels as a tunable cell culture system to mimic lung tissue stiffness and viscoelasticity.

Freeze-dried porous collagen scaffolds for the repair of volumetric muscle loss injuries.

Volumetric muscle loss (VML) injuries are characterized by the traumatic loss of skeletal muscle resulting in permanent damage to both tissue architecture and electrical excitability. To address this challenge, we previously developed a 3D aligned collagen-glycosaminoglycan (CG) scaffold platform that supported myotube alignment and maturation. In this work, we assessed the ability of CG scaffolds to facilitate functional muscle recovery in a rat tibialis anterior (TA) model of VML.

Open-Top Patterned Hydrogel-Laden 3D Glioma Cell Cultures for Creation of Dynamic Chemotactic Gradients to Direct Cell Migration.

The laminar flow profiles in microfluidic systems coupled to rapid diffusion at flow streamlines have been widely utilized to create well-controlled chemical gradients in cell cultures for spatially directing cell migration. However, within hydrogel-based closed microfluidic systems of limited depth (≤0.1 mm), the biomechanical cues for the cell culture are dominated by cell interactions with channel surfaces rather than with the hydrogel microenvironment.

Modular Multiwell Viscoelastic Hydrogel Platform for Two- and Three-Dimensional Cell Culture Applications.

Hydrogels have gained significant popularity as model platforms to study reciprocal interactions between cells and their microenvironment. While hydrogel tools to probe many characteristics of the extracellular space have been developed, fabrication approaches remain challenging and time-consuming, limiting multiplexing or widespread adoption. Thus, we have developed a modular fabrication approach to generate distinct hydrogel microenvironments within the same 96-well plate for increased throughput of fabrication as well as integration with existing high-throughput assay technologies.