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.
Three members of Lih-Sheng (Tom) Turng’s research group at WID won top awards for their exceptional research papers in March.
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.
The Wisconsin State Journal, as part of its feature highlighting stem cell research at UW 20 years after James Thomson’s discovery, highlights WID researchers Randolph Ashton and Kris Saha.
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.
Biomedical engineering professor and Discovery Fellow Kristyn Masters and colleagues identified the early stages of a process that may eventually cause aortic stenosis, a severe narrowing of the aortic valve that reduces blood flow to the body and weakens the heart.
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.
The National Science Foundation has awarded nearly $20 million to a consortium of universities to support a new engineering research center that will develop transformative tools and technologies for the consistent, scalable, and low-cost production of high-quality living therapeutic cells. Several WID investigators are collaborators on the project.
WKOW Channel 27 highlights Randolph Ashton’s NSF grant to create blank model for spinal cells.
Writing March 20 in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials, WID Fellow William Murphy describes the use of a variety of plants to create an efficient, inexpensive and scalable technology for making tiny structures that could one day be used to repair muscle, organs and bone using stem cells.
Randolph Ashton, assistant professor of biomedical engineering in the Bionates Theme at WID, received a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award for advancing tissue engineering of the human spinal cord.
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.
Tools for Discovery is a monthly profile series that inspects the computer programs, gadgets and methods behind WID’s ideas and discoveries.
