Browsing by Author "Mikos, A.G."

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Immunosuppressed Adult Zebrafish Model of Mucormycosis
    (American Society for Microbiology, 2018) Tatara, A.M.; Wurster, S.; Lockworth, C.R.; Albert, N.D.; Walsh, T.J.; Mikos, A.G.; Eisenhoffer, G.T.; Kontoyiannis, D.P.
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    Injectable dual-gelling cell-laden composite hydrogels for bone tissue engineering
    (Elsevier, 2016) Vo, T.N.; Shah, S.R.; Lu, S.; Tatara, A.M.; Lee, E.J.; Roh, T.T.; Tabata, Y.; Mikos, A.G.
    The present work investigated the osteogenic potential of injectable, dual thermally and chemically gelable composite hydrogels for mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) delivery in vitro and in vivo. Composite hydrogels comprising copolymer macromers of N-isopropylacrylamide were fabricated through the incorporation of gelatin microparticles (GMPs) as enzymatically digestible porogens and sites for cellular attachment. High and low polymer content hydrogels with and without GMP loading were shown to successfully encapsulate viable MSCs and maintain their survival over 28 days in vitro. GMP incorporation was also shown to modulate alkaline phosphatase production, but enhanced hydrogel mineralization along with higher polymer content even in the absence of cells. Moreover, the regenerative capacity of 2 mm thick hydrogels with GMPs only, MSCs only, or GMPs and MSCs was evaluated in vivo in an 8 mm rat critical size cranial defect for 4 and 12 weeks. GMP incorporation led to enhanced bony bridging and mineralization within the defect at each timepoint, and direct bone-implant contact as determined by microcomputed tomography and histological scoring, respectively. Encapsulation of both GMPs and MSCs enabled hydrogel degradation leading to significant tissue infiltration and osteoid formation. The results suggest that these injectable, dual-gelling cell-laden composite hydrogels can facilitate bone ingrowth and integration, warranting further investigation for bone tissue engineering.
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    Modular, tissue-specific, and biodegradable hydrogel cross-linkers for tissue engineering
    (AAAS, 2019) Guo, J.L.; Kim, Y.S.; Xie, V.Y.; Smith, B.T.; Watson, E.; Lam, J.; Pearce, H.A.; Engel, P.S.; Mikos, A.G.
    Synthetic hydrogels are investigated extensively in tissue engineering for their tunable physicochemical properties but are bioinert and lack the tissue-specific cues to produce appropriate biological responses. To introduce tissue-specific biochemical cues to these hydrogels, we have developed a modular hydrogel cross-linker, poly(glycolic acid)-poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(glycolic acid)-di(but-2-yne-1,4-dithiol) (PdBT), that can be functionalized with small peptide-based cues and large macromolecular cues simply by mixing PdBT in water with the appropriate biomolecules at room temperature. Cartilage- and bone-specific PdBT macromers were generated by functionalization with a cartilage-associated hydrophobic N-cadherin peptide, a hydrophilic bone morphogenetic protein peptide, and a cartilage-derived glycosaminoglycan, chondroitin sulfate. These biofunctionalized PdBT macromers can spontaneously cross-link polymers such as poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) to produce rapidly cross-linking, highly swollen, cytocompatible, and hydrolytically degradable hydrogels suitable for mesenchymal stem cell encapsulation. These favorable properties, combined with PdBT's modular design and ease of functionalization, establish strong potential for its usage in tissue engineering applications.
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    Tissue engineering perfusable cancer models
    (Elsevier, 2014) Fong, E.L.; Santoro, M.; Farach-Carson, Mary C.; Kasper, F.K.; Mikos, A.G.
    The effect of fluid flow on cancer progression is currently not well understood, highlighting the need for perfused tumor models to close this gap in knowledge. Enabling biological processes at the cellular level to be modeled with high spatiotemporal control, microfluidic tumor models have demonstrated applicability as platforms to study cell-cell interactions, effect of interstitial flow on tumor migration and the role of vascular barrier function. To account for the multi-scale nature of cancer growth and invasion, macroscale models are also necessary. The consideration of fluid dynamics within tumor models at both the micro- and macroscopic levels may greatly improve our ability to more fully mimic the tumor microenvironment.