Cell Adhesion and Migration in Constructs

  • This project focuses on the investigation of the regulation of valvular cell migration and phenotype change. The understanding of how variable mechanical environments induce migration and phenotype change is critical for a variety of diseases, including cancer, and for the development of alternative treatments and engineering of better tissues. This multidisciplinary project will:

    • Implement innovative methods to evaluate migration and transformation in vitro
    • Enable the control of regulatory pathways
    • Provide fundamental information that will guide the development of future engineered tissues
  • Tools used in this project include:
    • the development of 3D tissue constructs on biological scaffolds
    • imaging techniques that enable the measurement of migration within the tissue construct
    • staining techniques to validate phenotype change
    • as well as characterization of proteome dynamics
Valvular cells change morphology as they migrate to the inner layers of a collagen scaffold in culture as shown by confocal microscopy