The promise of tissue engineering stretches the limits of our imagination.
Biotechnology in general, and stem cell research in particular, has made great strides in spurring the growth (and re-growth) of specific human cell types. But cells alone cannot replace human tissue. Cells need scaffolds to serve as structural guides while growing into useful tissues or life-saving drug delivery systems.
Cell-scale scaffolds share similarities with building-scale scaffolds used in construction projects. Viable scaffolds allow for the mass transport of oxygen and nutrients. These scaffolds can direct the growth of cells migrating from nearby tissue or provide a foothold for new tissue growth. This directed growth could be used to replace destroyed nerves or heal fractured bones, damaged blood vessels, or parts of diseased organs.
Tissue engineering researchers at WID are laying the research foundation for these transformative scaffolding technologies. Ultimately, their work aims to heal damaged tissues with remarkable speed and minimal complications.
By working at the intersection of biotechnology and nanotechnology, tissue engineering researchers are building a library of scaffolding materials and cost-effective, mass-production methods that will work for a variety of cell types used in a wide range of in-body applications.
WID and Saha Lab alumnus, and current postdoc at the Morgridge Institute for Research, Amritava Das anticipates that he will put his engineering and bioscience training to use exploring the sometimes knotty connections between science, national security, and finance.
WID’s Sarah Gong is part of a team that developed a micro-molded scaffolding photoreceptor “patch” to be implanted under damaged or diseased retinas, the next step in restoring sight.
WID’s Randolph Ashton, Gavin Knight, Benjamin Knudsen, and Nisha Iyer take top honors from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation’s Innovation Awards. Their work, Superior Neural Tissue Models for Disease Modeling, Drug Development and More, was selected from more than 400 innovation disclosures.
A team of UW-Madison researchers led by Discovery Fellow Wendy Crone has created a powerful tool to help assess what experimental factors help to produce stem cell-generated cardiomyocytes that behave like adult heart cells.
WID researchers used a collaborative combination of computational and wet lab experimental techniques to find a connection between a transcription factor and a neurodevelopment gene.
WID researchers Randolph Ashton and Tom Turng partnered on a project to create hydrogel molds that will allow them to more precisely control the three-dimensional structures of organoids.
WID’s Tom Turng envisions a future in which surgeons can order mass-produced artificial blood vessels that arrive ready to use in bypass surgeries.
WID’s Randolph Ashton, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, is the new associate director for UW–Madison’s Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center.
A paper published in eLife this week by an interdisciplinary team at WID describes new methods for reproducibly manufacturing brain and spinal cord organoids with strict control over morphogenic and developmental processes.
UW researchers led by WID’s Kris Saha join the National Institutes of Health’s Somatic Cell Genome Editing Consortium with a major collaborative award.
A team of researchers is developing a new approach for maintaining open blood vessels in the wake of surgeries such as angioplasties or bypasses.
Investigators from WID are among the recipients of the latest round of UW2020 awards.
The scholarship recognizes promising undergraduates who plan to pursue a PhD or MD/PhD followed by a research career in engineering, mathematics, or the natural sciences.
In August 2017, Randolph Ashton received almost $800,000 from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of NIH, to continue a five-year research study of Lou Gehrig’s disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS), after successfully completing its first phase.
BIONATES Lih-Sheng “Tom” Turng works in tandem with Morgridge Institute for Research scientist James Thomson to create scaffolds for small diameter arteries.
Kris Saha with colleagues David Beebe and Christian Capitini aim to develop improved methods for making CAR T-Cells with a two-year grant from the NSF.
Thanks to the research of Professor Lih-Sheng (Tom) Turng, plastics can have applications in products ranging from eyeglass lenses to engineered tissues.
Kris Saha and colleagues from the BIONATES Theme detail a new approach that can refine gene editing in this month’s issue of Stem Cell Reports.
Published today in Stem Cell Reports, researchers led by Randolph Ashton and Ethan Lippmann present a unifying protocol to create neural stem cells from diverse regions of the hindbrain and spinal cord.
Through an Environmental Protection Agency initiative, WID researchers are playing a key role in learning how toxins impact human health and the environment.
Rupa Sridharan, Assistant Professor of Cell and Regenerative Biology at Wisconsin Institute for Discovery explains how she increased reprogramming efficiency to get pluripotent stem cells.
Peering through lenses, researchers are finding award-winning fluorescent landscapes, artful strokes, and a multitude of cell shapes and signals.
Researchers are working on ways to standardize how stem cells are harnessed to advance therapies and study disease.
Harvesting data and harvesting crops? There’s an app for that.
WID and UW-Madison researchers are finding ways to program stem cells to behave more like heart muscle cells.
