Event
BIOE Seminar Series: Catherine Kuo
Friday, November 18, 2016
9:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m.
Pepco Room (1105), Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building
Dr. Matysiak
matysiak@umd.edu
Catherine K. Kuo, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Department of Orthopaedics
Center for Musculoskeletal Research
Genetics, Development and Stem Cells Program
University of Rochester
Recapitulating Embryonic Development to Regenerate Tendon with Stem Cells
Musculoskeletal tissues such as tendon play critical roles in skeletal movement and stability, yet when injured are incapable of healing with normal functional properties. Our research aims to inform tendon tissue engineering and regenerative medicine strategies by recapitulating aspects of embryonic tissue development and scarless healing. To that end, we have been characterizing the cells and microenvironment of developing embryonic tendon as templates to guide tissue engineering strategies based on adult stem cells, scaffolds, and bioreactor culture systems. We have established the utility of embryonic tendon progenitor cells as a model of tenogenically differentiating cells, and are using these cells to evaluate differentiation treatments and potential stem cell sources (e.g., mesenchymal stem cells). Using a materials science approach, we are characterizing the structure-property relationships of embryonic tendons, and are implementing these findings as design parameters to engineer scaffolds for tendon tissue engineering. Our hypothesis is that 3-dimensional microenvironments that present critical embryonic mechanical and biochemical cues will instruct adult stem cells to regenerate normal tendon.
About the Speaker
Catherine K. Kuo is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Orthopaedics, and the Center for Musculoskeletal Research. Prior, she was an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University, and also a visiting scientist in the Department of Chemical Engineering at MIT. She completed her postdoctoral training in Cartilage Biology and Orthopaedics at the NIH, and her PhD in Biomaterials and Macromolecular Science and Engineering and BSE in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is a recipient of the Award for Innovation in Research at the Go:Life Orthopaedics Conference in Gothenburg Sweden (2015), the distinction of Emerging Investigator by Stem Cell Research and Therapy (2015), the NSF CAREER Award (2013), and the March of Dimes Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar Research Award (2011). She serves on the editorial review board for Journal of Orthopaedic Research, the advisory council for the International Society of Ligaments and Tendons, and as ad hoc reviewer of grant proposals for the NIH, NSF, DoD, and other federal government agencies. She is also Research Chair of the Tendon Section of the Orthopaedic Research Society.
* This Seminar is the Graduate Student Choice Seminar *
