"Bionic Macrophages for Regenerative Medicine"

ABSTRACT: The inflammatory response, orchestrated primarily by macrophages, plays a major role in the body’s response to injury, disease, or implantation of a biomaterial. When macrophages function normally, they are a powerful force that promote tissue repair and regeneration, but when they go 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 modulation of macrophage behavior to promote inflammation, phagocytosis, cellular recruitment, vascularization, tissue deposition, or remodeling. In this talk, we will focus on our work to investigate the role of macrophage phenotype in angiogenesis and wound healing, how these results influence biomaterials design, the development of novel biomaterials-based approaches to macrophage cell therapy, and biomarker discovery based on dynamic macrophage phenotype markers. 

BIOGRAPHY: Dr. Kara Spiller is a Professor in Drexel University's School of Biomedical Engineering, Science, and Health Systems. Her research interests include the role of immune cells in tissue regeneration, the design of immunomodulatory biomaterials, and international engineering education. Her research is funded by the NIH, the NSF, and private foundations. Her awards include a Fulbright fellowship, the NSF CAREER award, and the United States nomination for the ASPIRE prize.