Bioengineering Seminar Series: Kimberly Stroka

Friday, February 26, 2016
9:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m.
Room 2108, Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Building
Dr. Christopher Jewell
cmjewell@umd.edu

Dr. Kimberly Stroka
Assistant Professor
Fischell Department of Bioengineering
University of Maryland

Integrating biomimetic matrices and cell-on-chip systems to understand cell mechanobiology

Biological, chemical, and mechanical properties of the cellular microenvironment all play an important role in shaping cellular morphology, gene expression, and mechanics. Engineering biomimetic systems that recapitulate these aspects of the microenvironment can improve in vitro modeling of disease initiation and progression. We are particularly interested in the blood-brain barrier (BBB) microenvironment, which is a complex system consisting of the brain microvascular endothelium, basement membrane, and surrounding cells such as astrocytes, pericytes, and neurons, whose coordinated function regulates the BBB. The BBB is a highly selective physical barrier that regulates the flow of ions, nutrients, and cells between blood and interstitial fluid of the brain. BBB dysfunction is believed to occur in tumor metastasis, as well as infectious disease, stroke, multiple sclerosis, HIV, and Alzheimer’s disease. However, it is not understood how metastatic tumor cells are able to cross the BBB, given the BBB’s inherent function to tightly regulate flux of only select cellular and molecular materials into the brain’s interstitial fluid. A major hurdle preventing an understanding of the mechanisms of BM is the lack of physiologically-relevant BBB in vitro models, as the BBB is a highly complex system and thus is difficult to model using traditional approaches. We are utilizing an integrated engineering, physics, and biological approach in order to understand BBB mechanobiology, inspire more physiologically relevant in vitro models, help unravel mechanisms of tumor metastasis across the BBB, and direct development of therapeutics for brain metastasis. This talk will discuss our recent efforts to understand how physical and biochemical cues from the BBB microenvironment affect brain endothelial cell mechanobiology, and how interactions between tumor cells and the BBB microenvironment can affect tumor cell migration. 


About the Speaker

In January 2015, Dr. Kimberly Stroka joined the Fischell Department of Bioengineering as an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. She now heads the Cell and Microenvironment Engineering Lab. She received her B.S. summa cum laude in Physics in 2006 from Denison University and her PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Maryland-College Park. She completed her postdoctoral training at Johns Hopkins University in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Institute for NanoBioTechnology. In her doctoral work, Dr. Stroka developed a novel hydrogel-based in vitro model which she used to evaluate the effects of blood vessel stiffening on endothelial cell biomechanics, leukocyte mechanosensing, and leukocyte transmigration, during a normal immune response and in the context of cardiovascular disease. In Dr. Stroka’s postdoctoral work at Johns Hopkins University, she integrated microfabrication, molecular biology, live cell imaging, and theoretical modeling in order to uncover a new mechanism by which metastatic tumor cells migrate through confined microenvironments. Dr. Stroka has received the NIH NRSA F32 postdoctoral fellowship (2013-2014), NIH T32 postdoctoral fellowship (2012-2013), NIH NRSA F31 predoctoral fellowship (2010-2011), and NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (2006-2009). Dr. Stroka was also awarded the Burroughs Wellcome Career Award at the Scientific Interface (2014-2019) for her proposal on engineering blood-brain barrier mechanobiology in the context of tumor cell metastasis. She is also the recipient of the 2014 Rita Schaffer Young Investigator Award from the Biomedical Engineering Society and was recently invited to speak at the “Future of Biophysics” Symposium at the 2016 Biophysical Society Meeting.

Audience: Public 

remind we with google calendar

 

March 2024

SU MO TU WE TH FR SA
25 26 27 28 29 1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31 1 2 3 4 5 6
Submit an Event