Cell and Tissue Engineering
Scientists in the Cell and Tissue Engineering Cluster are inspired to better understand fundamental principles of cell biology and exploit this knowledge to regenerate tissues and treat debilitating human diseases.
These efforts are supported by the daily interaction among basic scientists, engineers, and clinicians that creates an environment to innovate and discover. Current lab groups focus in the areas of tissue engineering, the role of tissue remodeling in the progression of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, and human pluripotent stem cell and cancer stem cell biology.
Tissue engineering projects include design and fabrication of biomaterials as cell, protein or gene delivery devices, genetic engineering to direct cell and protein activity, and the development of multi-tissue interfaces. The metabolic modeling group focuses on the role of extracellular matrix remodeling (ECM) in the regulation of metabolism. By using genetically modified mouse models, three-dimensional (3-D) tissue culture, they work to define the molecular mechanism by which 3-D ECM remodeling regulates transcription, differentiation, and metabolic function in vitro and in vivo. Projects in the pluripotent stem cell group focus on how constituents of cell signaling pathways regulate transcription factors to balance self-renewal and cell differentiation in both human embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells. The cancer stem cell group has elucidated a number of intrinsic and extrinsic pathways that regulate self-renewal and cell fate decisions in cancer stem cells and is translating these pre-clinical research findings into the development of clinical trials designed to target breast cancer stem cells.
Three-dimensional (3D) adipose tissue organoids for disease modeling. Lipid (red), actin (green), nucleus (blue).
Cell in an engineered scaffold
Related Press Releases & Articles
- March 22, 2023 @ 10:30 am
Designing and Building Vascularized Tissues and Tissue Models- James B. Hoying, PhD. Chief Scientist Advanced Solutions Life Sciences
Leveraging our robotic and vascularization technology platforms, we have focused on developing solutions to readily build and deploy complex, vascularized tissues for in vitro modeling and regenerative therapeutics.
This event is co-sponsored by The Forbes Institute for Cancer Discovery
- February 20, 2023 @ 10:00 am
PhD Defense- Jacqueline Larouche
Title: Understanding and Rewriting Cellular and Molecular Programs to Restore Skeletal Muscle Homeostasis
Chair: Carlos Aguilar
- February 8, 2023 / Article
Article authored by former Innovation Fellow Yoon-Tae Kang
Yoon-Tae Kang, former Innovation Fellow and member of Sunitha Nagrath’s lab, authored article published in Advanced Materials Technologies.
- October 7, 2022 / Press Release
Shutting down backup genes leads to cancer remission in mice
Cancer cells delete DNA when they go to the dark side, so a team of doctors and engineers – led by Deepak Nagrath – targeted the ‘backup plans’ running critical cell functions
- August 12, 2022 / Press Release
Neuroregeneration and Cognition Challenge Seed Fund Awards
We are pleased to announce the funding selections for the MNI-BI 2022 Neuroregeneration and Cognition Challenge seed fund competition.
- August 4, 2022 / Award
2022 BI Innovator Awards
Congratulations to the 2022 BI Innovator Award Recipients. BI Innovator awards recognize members of the BI research community who are active participants in the research, innovation and translational ecosystem at BI and making a difference in our community.
- August 1, 2022 / Press Release
New members join BI’s External Advisory Board
BI welcomes Carl Gordon and Natasha Shervani of OrbiMed as new members of its External Advisory Board.
- July 15, 2022 / Press Release
Lola Eniola-Adefeso and international team receive $7.5M for cardiovascular disease research
Lola Eniola-Adefeso is part of an international research team that recently received $7.5 million from the Leducq Foundation for their AntheroGEN project.
- April 8, 2022 / Article
Recovery from muscle loss injuries hindered by immune cell conflicts
Collaborative research in the Aguilar lab showed how two of the body’s natural injury responders conflict following traumatic muscle injuries.
- February 18, 2022 / Press Release
Keller Named Director of Research Cores
Congratulations to Even Keller on joining OVPR as the inaugural Director of Research Cores.
- October 7, 2021 @ 9:00 am
BI Distinguished Lectureship Series with Dr. John S. Condeelis
Join us on October 7for a Distinguished Lecture by Dr. John S. Condeelis
- August 3, 2021 / Award
Carlos Aguilar receives NSF CAREER Award
The project is entitled “CAREER: Understanding the Interdependence of the Microenvironment and Nuclear Organization in Stem Cell Aging.”
- August 3, 2021 / Press Release
Lola Eniola-Adefeso named new Associate Dean for Graduate & Professional Education (ADGPE) in the College of Engineering
Lola Eniola-Adefeso named new Associate Dean for Graduate & Professional Education (ADGPE) in the College of Engineering
- July 22, 2021 / Press Release
BioInnovations in Brain Cancer launches faculty search
The BioInnovations in Brain Cancer Initiative (BIBC) at the University of Michigan invites applications for a tenure-track position at any level in brain cancer biology and technology research (including, drug/molecular transport/imaging in the brain tissue; translation-focused glioma, epigenetics and/or scRNA-seq research; and non-viral nucleic acid delivery).
Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis, but review of applications will begin on October 1, 2021.
- May 21, 2021 / Press Release
Faculty Promotions
Congratulations to James Moon, Sunitha Nagrath, Anna Schwendeman and Anish Tuteja on being promoted to Professor!
- May 17, 2021 / Award
2021 BI Innovator Awardees
Congratulations to the 2021 BI Innovator Award Recipients. BI Innovator awards recognize members of the BI research community who are active participants in the research, innovation and translational ecosystem at BI and making a difference in our community.
- April 1, 2021 / Article
Recent BI Publications
Publications from BI Research Groups in March
- March 30, 2021 @ 3:30 pm
BI Distinguished Lectureship Series with Dr. James Kirkland
Join us on March 30 for a Distinguished Lecture by Dr. James Kirkland from @MayoClinic on his research on aging, cellular senescence and age-related diseases.
- March 1, 2021 / Article
Recent BI Publications
Publications from BI Research Groups in February
- February 23, 2021 / Award
S. Nagrath Elected Fellow of AIMBE
Congratulations to Sunitha Nagrath on being elected to the College of Fellows at the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).
Our Cell and Tissue Engineering Researchers
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Max Wicha
Madeline and Sidney Forbes Professor of Oncology; Professor of Internal Medicine Research Focus: Single Cell Technologies, Cell and Tissue Engineering Contact Information:mwicha@umich.eduWicha researchers study the biology of stem cells in the normal mammary gland and breast cancers by isolating and characterizing normal and malignant mammary stem cells and the changes in these key cells during carcinogenesis.
Lola Eniola-Adefeso
University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor; Associate Dean for Graduate and Professional Education; Professor of Chemical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Macromolecular Science and Engineering Research Focus: Cell and Tissue Engineering Contact Information:lolaa@umich.eduOur research is focused on cell adhesion and drug delivery; specifically, the group’s overall objective is to use knowledge of the cellular inflammatory response and blood flow hemodynamics to design bio-functionalized particles for targeted drug delivery and imaging.
Kathryn Luker
Associate Research Scientist of Radiology Research Focus: Cell and Tissue Engineering, Single Cell Technologies Contact Information:kluker@umich.eduThe Luker lab combines innovative optical imaging with computational modeling to discover how single-cell signaling in the tumor microenvironment regulates breast cancer progression and response to therapy.
Sunitha Nagrath
Professor of Chemical Engineering Research Focus: Single Cell Technologies, Cell and Tissue Engineering Contact Information:snagrath@umich.eduThe Nagrath lab research focuses on developing integrated nano- and microfluidic technologies for understanding cell trafficking in cancer through isolation, characterization, and the study of circulating tumor cells in peripheral blood of cancer patients.
Isabelle Lombaert
Assistant Professor of Dentistry - Biologic and Materials Sciences Research Focus: Cell and Tissue Engineering Contact Information:lombaert@umich.eduResearch in the Lombaert lab focuses on the regeneration of radiated tissues by stem cell-based therapies. In order to drive this therapeutic concept successfully, we investigate molecular and cellular research aspects during organ development, as well as in adult homeostatic and damaged conditions.
Deepak Nagrath
Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering Research Focus: Single Cell Technologies, Cell and Tissue Engineering, BioInnovations in Brain Cancer Contact Information:dnagrath@umich.eduThe Nagrath lab focuses on both experimental and theoretical aspects of Cellular and Molecular Tissue Engineering, Metabolic Engineering, and Biomedicine with emphasis on clinical applications. Our research interests lie in the systems biology of metabolic diseases, specifically cancer.
Lonnie Shea
Steven A Goldstein Collegiate Professor of Biomedical Engineering; Professor of Chemical Engineering and Surgery Research Focus: Cell and Tissue Engineering Contact Information:ldshea@umich.eduThe Shea Lab focuses on controllable microenvironments for directing or molecularly dissecting tissue growth, both normal and abnormal. His lab is applying systems biology approaches to investigate epithelial cell differentiation and metastatic progression, the mechanisms of drug action, and the cross talk between epithelial cells and immune cells.
Evan Keller
Richard and Susan Rogel Professor of Oncology; Professor of Urology and Pathology; Associate Professor of Comparative Pathology Research Focus: Single Cell Technologies, Cell and Tissue Engineering Contact Information:etkeller@umich.eduThe Keller Group focuses on the biology of cancer metastasis and explores genes that regulate metastasis and the interaction between the bone microenvironment and cancer cells. Researchers perform translational studies to enable movement of research findings into clinics.
Carlos Aguilar
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering Research Focus: Single Cell Technologies, Cell and Tissue Engineering Contact Information:caguilar@umich.eduAguilar’s NOBEL lab develops, optimizes and applies innovative technologies such as integrative genomic assays and high-throughput sequencing, micro/nanofabricated devices, genome editing and computational modeling to its primary area of focus, which is skeletal muscle.
Tae-Hwa Chun
Associate Professor of Internal Medicine Research Focus: Cell and Tissue Engineering Contact Information:taehwa@umich.eduDr. Chun is a clinician-researcher specializing in diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, and endocrine disorders. His research efforts focus on enzyme-mediated fat tissue remodeling, which maintains healthy fat function and metabolism. High caloric diet causes diabetes and cardiovascular diseases by disrupting healthy fat remodeling and function.