Education

M.S. Engineering Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridige, MA, 2009
B.S. Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 2006

Research Focus

Endothelial progenitor cells have the potential to contribute to new blood vessel formation in an ischemic setting. (See Silva et al, PNAS 2009.) These cells are circulating at low levels in the blood stream all the time, and their numbers increase after an ischemic injury. Our goal is to recruit these circulating progenitors to an injured ischemic region using a material system that delivers controlled gradients of chemoattractive factors. With help and resources at the Wyss Institute, we are using microfluidic devices as a model system to study the recruitment process in vitro. We are also trying to understand the role of the progenitors in 3D sprouting assays, as well as testing the ability of our material system to recruit progenitors and promote angiogenesis in vivo. Together we hope to dissect the mechanisms by which endothelial cells and their progenitors interact in order to recover in an ischemic setting.

Publications

Anderson EM, Noble ML, Garty S, Ma H, Bryers JD, Shen TT, Ratner BD. Sustained release of antibiotic from poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) to prevent blinding infections after cataract surgery. Biomaterials. 2009 Oct; 30(29): 5675-81.