Lauffenburger:Shelly Peyton
 Shelly Peyton (BE postdoctoral, joint with Dr. Linda Griffith) Adult Stem Cell Migration Behavior in 3D Synthetic ECMs Currently, a large amount of effort is being put forth on combining marrow progenitor cells, or mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) with 3D scaffolds to direct bone regeneration in critical size bone defects. Consequently, many people are investigating how the bio-physical and –chemical properties of 3D scaffolds can facilitate MSC survival, proliferation, and differentiation into appropriate lineages. However, little is known about how implanted MSCs migrate through these scaffolds. I am currently using a synthetic PEG-based system in which adhesivity, matrix stiffness, and porosity can be independently tuned. We are using this highly tunable system to analyze distinct biophysical features of 3D scaffolds on MSC migration. Combined with existing data on MSC proliferation, survival, and differentiation in 3D scaffolds by our lab and others, this information on MSC motility could be very powerful for future intelligent scaffold design for MSC-directed bone regeneration in vivo. |
