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BioE Seminar Series: Immunomodulatory Biomaterials for Regenerative Medicine

Kara Spiller, PhD
Thursday, October 20, 2022
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Kara Spiller, PhD, Professor, School of Biomedical Engineering, Science, and Health Systems, Drexel University
BioE Seminar Series

The inflammatory response plays a major role in the body's response to injury, disease, or implantation of a biomaterial. When the inflammatory response functions normally, it can be a powerful force that promotes tissue repair and regeneration, but when it goes awry, disease takes hold and healing is impaired. The goal of the Biomaterials and Regenerative Medicine Laboratory at Drexel University is to understand the mechanisms by which the inflammatory response orchestrates successful tissue regeneration and to develop novel biomaterial strategies that apply these principles to situations in which tissue regeneration is impaired. In particular, we focus on the behavior of the macrophage, which can rapidly change behavior in response to environmental stimuli to promote inflammation, vascularization, tissue deposition, or remodeling. Through their dynamic phenotypic changes, macrophages function as major regulators of healing. In this talk, we will focus on our work to investigate the role of macrophage phenotype in angiogenesis and wound healing, with applications in novel biomaterials design and biomarker development.