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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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"In vitro to in vivo Considerations in the Design of Synthetic-based Hydrogels for Applications in Tissue Engineering"
Stephanie J. Bryant, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Chemical and Biological Engineering
University of Colorado Boulder
The overall research objective of this group is to combine novel cell scaffold development with mechanical cues to direct and guide tissue growth in the appropriate composition to yield a functional and integrated tissue. Tissues in the body are continually subjected to mechanical stresses. It is well known that cells detect and respond to mechanical stresses by metabolic alterations that are mediated through specific mechanotransduction pathways. Photopolymerized hydrogels offer a unique medium with which to design a wide array of scaffolds from different chemistries that exhibit a range of macroscopic properties and degradation profiles. They are interested in exploiting the hydrogel environment to study mechanotransduction pathways as well as developing novel scaffolds combined with mechanical conditioning for tissue engineering. In particular, the group is focused primarily on cartilage tissue engineering, but will soon be expanding into cardiac muscle tissue engineering.