BME WEBINAR SERIES: Anjelica Gonzalez, PhD, Yale University

BME Webinar Series
Friday, December 4, 2020
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Online Event
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On Friday, December 4th @ 11:00AM ET, we welcome Prof. Anjelica Gonzalez from Yale University as she presents, "Engineering Human Microvasculature in Inflammatory and Fibrotic Disease."

ABOUT THE WEBINAR

Microvascular dysfunction and disintegration is key to the genesis and progression of many diseases of capillary rich organs. Such organs include skin, kidney, heart and lungs, each abundant in microvasculature, and enriched in microvascular mural cells known as pericytes. The pericyte-elaborated basement membrane, while considered an important regulator of microvascular stability, has been inadequately characterized in the healthy, inflamed or fibrotic state. Further, in vivo systems have demonstrated that pericytes are capable of vascular destabilization and migration for the microvessel into the interstitial tissue during fibrosis, though mechanisms driving this activity have not been well elucidated.

Using engineered models of the composite microvasculature, in conjunction with engineered human lung and skin, we have explored the extent to which pericytes respond to proinflammatory and profibrotic signals, matrix protein composition, and signals generated by mechanotransduction in mechanically altered tissue. We have used such engineered models to determine the extent to which vascular and mural cells can contribute to leukocyte recruitment, vascular destabilization and tissue remodeling to progress and sustain a diseased microenvironment. Lastly, we have used such models in conjunction with human cells to determine the efficacy of currently approved and novel therapeutics to inhibit development, slow progression and potentially revers the matrix remodeling events facilitated by pericytes, fibroblasts and myofibroblasts in the skin and lung. Future transformation of our engineered system into high-throughput platforms will provide an excellent and efficient means of understanding the role of understudied cells, like pericytes, in disease initiation and progression. Similarly, the development of a high throughput platform will facilitate drug screening for orphaned or incompletely characterized drugs that would be effective in treating inflammatory and fibrotic disease.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Anjelica Gonzalez currently serves as Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Faculty Director of Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale. Her research has focused on the development of biomimetic materials for use in investigation of immunology, inflammation and fibrosis. Gonzalez has a dedicated interest in training the next generation of scientists to think in an interdisciplinary way and approach problems from a scientifically global perspective. With a multi-disciplinary approach, the Gonzalez Lab combines organic chemistry, molecular biology, mathematics, computational modeling and image analysis to develop and use engineered scaffolds to dissect the chemo-mechanics of immunological processes. This work has led to significant advancement specific to an array of diseases and disorders, including vascular inflammation, stroke, fibrosis, and sepsis. To date, Anjelica’s research and social efforts have been acknowledged by national organizations, including the National Institutes of Health, NBC, Biomedical Engineering Society, Microcirculation Society, American Society for Investigative Pathology, the American Physiological Society and The Hartwell Foundation.

ABOUT THE 2020-2021 BME WEBINAR SERIES

The Department of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University is proud to host an annual weekly webinar series on the latest developments and research in Biomedical Engineering. The weekly series takes place on Friday mornings at 11:00AM Eastern and includes a variety of renowned academics from top universities to talk about their specific research and experience.

Register at the link above!
Event Contact Information:
Alexis Newman
[email protected]
LOCATION:
  • Online
TYPE:
  • Webcast
  • Seminar
  • Lecture
CATEGORY:
  • Engineering
  • Research
  • Healthcare
EVENTS OPEN TO:
  • Alumni
  • Faculty
  • Graduate Students
  • Family-friendly
  • Prospective Students
  • Postdocs
  • Public
  • Staff
  • Students
  • Trainees
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