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ENGINEERING THE TUMOR VASCULAR NICHE

Tumor Engineering: Overview

We are most broadly a "Tumor Engineering" lab, a term we use to refer to the application of tools and insights from the fields of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine to the understanding and treatment of cancer. We have a particular interest in developing advanced tissue-engineered models of the tumor vascular niche, which is a key regulator of tumor growth and therapy response. Our lab is ideally positioned within a joint Virginia Tech - Wake Forest program, providing the opportunity to collaborate with some of the world's top tissue engineers and cancer biologists. Some examples of this work are included below.

Tumor Engineering: About
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MICROFLUIDIC TISSUES

We leverage a combination of soft lithography, traditional machining, and 3D printing techniques to engineer 3D tissues for studies ranging from quantifying vascular sprouting dynamics in response to physical tissue cues or complex gradients, to maintenance of a stem cell phenotype within a perivascular niche.

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PRIMING A TUMOR VASCULAR NICHE

We have recently leveraged our 3D vascular models to analyze the role of ultra-low levels of chronic inflammation in regulating tumor vascular phenotypes. Among our findings has been that these cues lead to a primed vascular state in which cells are more responsive to subsequent tumor angiogenic signals.

Tumor Engineering: Research

RECENT RELATED PUBLICATIONS

Megan C. Cox, Chengyu Deng, Lynette B. Naler, Chang Lu, Scott S. Verbridge

ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, 2019, v. 5, (3), 1544-1552

Megan C. Cox, Andrea S. Kuliasha, Liwu Li, Scott S. Verbridge

ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, 2017, v. 4, (2), 357-367

Ryan J. Mondschein, Akanksha Kanitkar, Christopher B. Williams, Scott S. Verbridge, Timothy E. Long

Biomaterials, 2017, v. 140, 170-188

Tumor Engineering: Publications
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