layer-layer-collagen-deposition-microfluidic-devices-for-microtissue

Layer-by-layer Collagen Deposition in Microfluidic Devices for Microtissue Stabilization

Although microfluidics provides exquisite control of the cellular microenvironment, culturing cells within microfluidic devices can be challenging. 3D ...

mouse-model-of-pressure-ulcers-after-spinal-cord-injury

Mouse Model of Pressure Ulcers After Spinal Cord Injury

Pressure ulcers (PUs) are common debilitating complications of traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) and tend to occur in soft tissues around bony ...

Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School

Shriners Hospitals for Children-Boston

Rutgers University

Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Shriners Hospitals for Children

The demand for skin rejuvenation procedures has progressively increased in the past decade. Additionally, clinical trials have shown that current therapies might cause downtime and side effects in patients including prolonged erythema, scarring, and dyspigmentation. The goal of this study was to explore the effect of partial irreversible electroporation (pIRE) with pulsed electric fields in aged skin rejuvenation as a novel, non-invasive skin resurfacing technique. In this study, we used an experimental model of aged rats. We showed that treatment with pIRE promoted keratinocyte proliferation and blood flow in aged rat skin. We also found significant evidence indicating that pIRE reformed the dermal extracellular matrix (ECM). Both the collagen protein and fibre density in aged skin increased after pIRE administration. Furthermore, using an image-processing algorithm, we found that the collagen fibre orientation in the histological sections did not change, indicating a lack of scar formation in the treated areas. The results showed that pIRE approach could effectively stimulate keratinocyte proliferation, ECM synthesis, and angiogenesis in an aged rat model.

Rejuvenation of aged rat skin with pulsed electric fields.

Donation after circulatory death (DCD) liver grafts are known to be predisposed to primary nonfunction and ischemic cholangiopathy. Many DCD grafts are discarded because of older donor age or long warm ischemia times. Thus, it is critical to improve the quality of DCD liver grafts. Here, we have tested whether an enriched oxygen carrier added to the preservation solution can prolong graft survival and reduce biliary damage.

Oxygenated UW Solution Decreases ATP Decay and Improves Survival After Transplantation of DCD Liver Grafts.

Cancer is a devastating disease that takes the lives of hundreds of thousands of people every year. Due to disease heterogeneity, standard treatments, such as chemotherapy or radiation, are effective in only a subset of the patient population. Tumors can have different underlying genetic causes and may express different proteins in one patient versus another. This inherent variability of cancer lends itself to the growing field of precision and personalized medicine (PPM). There are many ongoing efforts to acquire PPM data in order to characterize molecular differences between tumors. Some PPM products are already available to link these differences to an effective drug. It is clear that PPM cancer treatments can result in immense patient benefits, and companies and regulatory agencies have begun to recognize this. However, broader changes to the healthcare and insurance systems must be addressed if PPM is to become part of standard cancer care.

Martin L. Yarmush

Center for Engineering in Medicine

Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School

Layer-by-layer Collagen Deposition in Microfluidic Devices for Microtissue Stabilization

Mouse Model of Pressure Ulcers After Spinal Cord Injury