INjectable Hydrogel projects

Polymers are a synthetic type of material composed of very large molecules (think very long chains of paperclips) made up of smaller, joined-together molecules (think of these as the individual paperclips). These polymers can be found all around us, from being used in fabrics, to household items like kitchenware, to the healthcare system. A special type of polymer that I’m particularly interested in is polyethylene glycol, or PEG. Fun fact: PEG is already widely used in the medical field thanks to its great compatibility with the body and ability to absorb a lot of water (looking at you MiraLax). I specifically am interested in using PEG for fabricating a new type of material that is both injectable and has large enough pores to allow for cells to move freely into and out of the material. I want to investigate how we can use this new type of material to direct cell recruitment and activity within the scaffold, and how we might be able to harness this material as a passive immune-monitoring tool. My long-term goal is to use these injectable biomaterials to be able to diagnose multiple sclerosis in a more minimally invasive manner, and at earlier timepoints, than is possible with current techniques.

-Mary Dickenson, 3rd Year Graduate Student, BME

  Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic inflammatory musculoskeletal disease associated with psoriasis and has a heterogeneous disease presentation including peripheral arthritis, enthesitis, dactylitis, spondylitis, and nail lesions. Early diagnosis and intervention with disease modifying treatments is considered critical in preventing progression, yet diagnosis and monitoring of PsA remains extremely challenging. Several recent studies have indicated that various physiological and pathological states influence the foreign body response (FBR) to implanted materials. Furthermore, our group has demonstrated that the FBR to an implanted scaffold can lead to implant conditioning, vascularization, and a continual influx of immune cells from circulation and surrounding tissue to form a subcutaneously engineered tissue that can be harnessed for diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of PsA patients. My work focuses on applying polycaprolactone, which is one of the widely explored synthetic polymers in various biomedical applications, as an implantable device to serve as sentinel sites to diagnose and prognose PsA. 

- Meijuan Lin, Research Specialist, BME