Event
BIOE Seminar: Mechanobiology of Endothelial Cells and Glycocalyx in Blood Vessel Health and Disease
Friday, March 28, 2025
9:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m.
A. James Clark Hall, Room #2121
Alisa Clyne
aclyne@umd.edu
Eno Ebong
Associate Professor
Northeastern University
Mechanobiology of Endothelial Cells and Glycocalyx in Blood Vessel Health and Disease
Abstract
The Ebong research laboratory investigates how mechanical forces influence endothelial cells, which line the blood vessels and protect them from diseases such as atherosclerosis and cancer metastasis. A primary focus is on studying the structure and function of the endothelial cell glycocalyx, which acts as a node that receives signals from the extracellular environment and transmits them into the endothelial cells. The endothelial cell glycocalyx has a gel-like structure, composed of sugar molecules and proteins. One of its primary functions is to convert mechanical forces from the surrounding environment into biochemical responses within the endothelial cells, helping to protect blood vessels from endothelial cell-dependent diseases. In this way, the glycocalyx provides fragile blood vessels with the resilience needed to withstand the mechanical forces exerted within and upon them. Unfortunately, the glycocalyx sheds in the presence of disease, particularly at blood vessel branch points, where fluid dynamics are unsteady and commonly co-localized with atherosclerotic plaques. Recent findings also suggest that excessive tissue stiffness adversely affects the glycocalyx. As a result, it is of significant interest to study how gradual degradation or unfavorable changes in the glycocalyx initiate or promote pathological processes that lead to the formation of atherosclerotic lesions or secondary cancers. The Ebong laboratory creates experimental systems that combine fluids, mechanically tunable substrates, and mammalian endothelial cells to replicate both healthy and disruptive mechanobiological conditions. This approach uncovers the complexities of the relationship between mechanical forces, the glycocalyx, and endothelial cells. These findings are further validated by live animal studies, which assess how the results translate to real disease conditions. The long-term goal is to apply insights from mechanobiology, endothelial cell function, and glycocalyx structure to develop clinically relevant therapies that can reverse disease progression.
Speaker Bio
Dr. Eno Ebong is an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering, and Biology at Northeastern University, where she also serves as Associate Chair for Graduate Studies in Chemical Engineering. She directs the Ebong Mechanobiology Laboratory and is a Founding Steering Committee Member of the Northeastern University Institute for Mechanobiology. Dr. Ebong holds an S.B. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT (1999), and an M.Eng. (2001) and Ph.D. (2006) from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She completed a NIH Cardiovascular Research Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (2007-2012), where she was also jointly appointed at CUNY City College of New York. Dr. Ebong’s research focuses on endothelial cell mechanobiology, investigating how mechanical forces impact endothelial cells under normal and pathological conditions. Her work aims to understand the role of endothelial cells in cardiovascular diseases and other disorders related to vascular dysfunction. With over 70 peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers, 3 book chapters, 1 book, and 3,000 citations, her research has been supported by a significant portfolio of federal and industry funding. Dr. Ebong has received numerous honors, including the NSF CAREER Award (2019) and the NIH NHLBI K01 Award (2015). She was also named to the 2021 Class of Influential Researchers by Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research. In 2025, she received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest U.S. government honor for early-career scientists and engineers.
