Encouraging Stem Cell Activation through Mechanical Means
In the heart of the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT biological engineering graduate student Frances Liu is delving into the intricate world of bone marrow-derived stem cells. Liu's research focuses on understanding how these cells release specific chemicals in response to mechanical interactions with their surrounding environment.
Liu's work is significant as it aims to alter the stem cells' physical environment to encourage them to produce the most desirable chemical output, which could potentially revolutionise tissue repair in the body. This research could pave the way for engineering cytokine profiles using cell-material interactions.
To achieve this, Liu is growing bone marrow-derived stem cells and studying their behaviour under lab-controlled conditions. She is particularly interested in factors such as stiffness, acidity, and roughness of the environment, as these factors can directly correlate with the chemicals produced by the cells.
To better understand the differences between subpopulations of heterogeneous bone marrow cells, Liu is employing an inertial microfluidic separation device, adapted from MIT Professor Jongyoon Han's designs. This device allows for a more precise examination of the variations between these cell subpopulations.
The research group, led by Krystyn J. Van Vliet, has already made strides in this area. In 2014, they published a paper identifying three markers - size, mechanical stiffness, and nuclear movement - to distinguish stem cells from non-stem cells in a heterogeneous population. The team is now working on understanding the correlations between the mechanical properties of the materials the cells interact with and the chemical factors that they produce in response to this chemomechanical coupling.
Liu expects to complete her doctorate in 2017 and received her bachelor of science degree in biomedical engineering from Brown University. The cells being studied are compared to factories that produce chemicals, with Liu aiming to manipulate these cells using cell-material interactions or synthetic materials to produce certain chemicals beneficial to tissue repair.
While the specific individuals involved in Professor Van Vliet's group have not been publicly detailed, it is known that they form part of an interdisciplinary team within SMART. The ultimate goal of this research is to understand which cytokines each subpopulation may be secreting, both in the body and in the lab, with the potential to engineer those cytokine profiles for improved tissue repair.
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