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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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~~Michael Nelson
Date: Friday October 21, 2016
Time: 9:00 AM
Location: EBB, CHOA Seminar Room
Advisor:
Krishnendu Roy, PhD (BME)
Thesis Committee Members:
Brandon Dixon, PhD (ME, BME)
Frances Eun-Hyung Lee, MD (Medicine, Emory University)
Manu Platt, PhD (BME)
Johnna Temenoff, PhD (BME)
A Multi-Niche Culture Method for Mimicking Human Bone Marrow
Bone marrow (BM) is complex, highly cellular tissue that consists of three distinct microenvironments: the endosteal niche, the central marrow, and the perivascular niche. Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are located in the BM and interact with a number of stromal cells (e.g. mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), osteoblasts, endothelial cells, adipocytes). These interactions direct HSCs toward self-renewal, proliferation, migration, and differentiation in healthy individuals to populate and maintain the hematopoietic system. Currently, our understanding of the hematopoietic BM niche is limited to animal and ectopic bone marrow models; there is no method for studying the human BM microenvironment. This has led to uncertainty regarding the HSC niche and lack of understanding of the role of the BM microenvironment in disease, such as multiple myeloma, which evades therapy through microenvironment interactions. This proposal aims to establish a microfluidic culture method, a ‘bone marrow-on-a-chip’, that recapitulates the BM microenvironment. The developed method will be used to study (1) normal HSC migration, proliferation, and differentiation dynamics within BM; and (2) the role of the BM microenvironment in multiple myeloma survival and therapeutic evasion.
