Tendon injury is one of the most prevalent musculoskeletal problems in the US, affecting an estimated 33 million people annually. Our research focuses on developing a cell and tissue engineering approach for repairing tendons that can drastically improve patient outcomes. Current technologies used to advance tendon research include the use of stem cells from different sources like induced pluripotent stem cells in combination with the use of bioreactors, genetic engineering biomaterials, and other tissue engineering techniques to mimic the environmental cues needed for tendon.
Our understanding of how tendons develop from their origins is limited. There are several well-known genes that are very highly expressed during tendon maturation. However, they're unfortunately not unique to the tendon tissue.
This makes it difficult for researchers to standardly assess successful tendon differentiation. A protocol takes advantage of remarkable IPC differentiation potential and what we know so far on tendon development. Our goal is to develop an allogeneic cell source for tendon cell therapy applications.
Our laboratories focused on elucidating the pathways involved with tendon sulfate to better understand tendon development. We want to implement this knowledge in combination with tissue engineering technologies and biomaterials to develop more effective alternatives for traditional tendon repair.
