Dr. John Fisher, Professor and Department Chair at the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland College Park, uses a multitude of bioengineering strategies to develop novel treatments to heal tissues and restore their function.
Tissue damage can result from trauma, disease, or congenital disorders. Some examples include cancers involving the bone, cartilage defects, or injuries to the craniofacial region. Common clinical solutions include symptom treatment, disease management, and in some cases, tissue grafting from a donor or the patient themselves. However, ideal solutions would go beyond disease management to include the regeneration of damaged tissues, a promising field known as regenerative medicine.
Dr. Fisher’s lab and his collaborators are well versed in regenerative medicine and have worked with several tissues including bone, cartilage, cardiovascular, and placental. Their goal is to build materials that can be easily implanted into a patient’s body to help restore lost or damaged tissue. Regenerative medicine often includes the use of stem cells because of their unique potential to give rise to cells of any tissue origin and ability to self-renew. As an example, Dr. Fisher notes his use of mesenchymal and hematopoietic stem cell co-cultures for engineering bone marrow. This particular project combines 3D printing and a bioreactor system to re-create the niche microenvironment needed for these stem cells to differentiate and expand. The innovative conjunction of these two techniques allows for efficient cell culture conditions and increase of cell yield for further downstream biological applications.
Dr. Fisher describes how support from the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund “has not only impacted our lab and its growth, but it's also supported a number of trainees with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows”. The novel and cutting-edge work of the Fisher Lab continuously advances the field of regenerative medicine and holds great impact for future clinical solutions.
------------
About the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund: www.mscrf.org/
Interested in having your research funded by the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund?
Apply now: www.mscrf.org/....
Interested in collaborating with us? Reach out to Dr. Amritha Jaishankar, Executive Director, MSCRF: / amrithajai. .
Or, follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter to learn about opportunities:
LinkedIn: / mscr. .
Twitter: / md_stem_cell
26 окт 2024
