Group Members
Principal Investigator:
Jennifer L. West, PhD
Technical Staff:
Marcella Estrella, Lab Manager
As a member of the Rice community for more than 40 years, Marcella is an invaluable asset to the West Lab. Her responsibilities include equipment maintenance, training, and procurement, as well as purchasing and restocking all consumables within the lab facilities.
Melissa K. McHale, PhD , Lab Manager and Research Scientist
Research Interests: My graduate work centered on the use of biomimetic hydrogel materials in the creation of tissue engineered cartilage and blood vessels. At Rice, I worked to develop a pulsatile flow bioreactor for the in vitro culture of engineered, small diameter vascular grafts fabricated from a combination of poly(ethylene glycol) hydrogels and human vascular cells. As part of the West Lab’s technical staff I work remotely, assisting primarily with editing and publication of our work.
Maude Rowland, PhD, Lab Manager and Research Scientist
Research Interests: My work focuses on the development of a culture system to expand hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) for clinical applications. HSCs are used in the treatment of many blood diseases and disorders and have potential for use in other applications. However, HSC availability is limited due to a shortage of donors and unsuccessful in vitro culturing techniques. I am currently developing a novel, ex vivo culture system that recapitulates the HSC microenvironment.
Post-Doctoral Researchers:
John Slater, PhD
Research Interests:
LaShan Simpson, PhD
Research Interests: My overall research interest is targeted therapy, in particular the possibilities of targeted therapy through cell and gene therapy. My work focuses on the use of cell-based gene therapy as a new approach to bone grafting. In collaboration with Baylor College of Medicine, I am using poly (ethylene glycol) diacrylate hydrogels to microencapsulate virally transduced cells to induce bone formation for use in femoral critical size defect and spine fusion models.
Xing Zhang
Research Interests: My work focuses on patterning hydrogels to form advanced laminar structures for tissue engineering of aortic valve leaflets. Hydrogels, such as poly(ethylene glycol) and hyaluronic acid, will be patterned mimicking the microstructures of aortic valve leaflets. Primary valvular cells as well as progenitor cells (i.e. endothelial progenitor cells) will be cultured in these laminate hydrogels to engineer aortic valve leaflets. I am also interested in mechanobiology of these engineered aortic valve leaflets.
Anita Shukla
Research Interests: In my current postdoctoral research, I am interested in directing cellular behavior using innovative patterned surfaces that are formed using laser scanning lithography. I am focusing on formulating cell-derived biomimetic patterns of adhesive peptides in order to guide mesenchymal stem cell differentiation and better understand the effects of mechanical tension on cell behavior. In my Ph.D. research, I developed polymer multilayer drug delivery coatings targeting infection, inflammation, and bleeding.
Ryan Schweller
Barbara Nsiah
Michael Cuchiara
Graduate Students:
Joe Hoffman
Research Interests: I am researching the use of two-photon absorption laser scanning lithography (TPA-LSL) to three dimensionally pattern bioactive ligands in biomimetic, poly(ethylene glycol) based hydrogels. Additionally, I am utilizing this technique to study complex multicellular interactions and to design biomaterials for microvascular tissue engineering applications.
BJ Gill
Research Interests: Use of poly(ethylene glycol) hydrogels with tunable mechanics and bioactivity to investigate extracellular matrix-derived influences on epithelial morphogenesis and metastasis in a lung cancer model.
Andrew Coughlin
Research Interests: Medical nanotechnology, site-specific targeting of nanoparticles in vivo, and combined imaging and therapeutic platforms in cancer medicine.
Laura Strong
Research Interests: My project focuses on developing a novel drug delivery platform for chemotherapeutics by combining near infrared (NIR) absorbing gold-silica nanoshells with a thermally responsive poly(NIPAAm-co-AAm) hydrogel. I am investigating the release of various drugs from these gel composites in response to NIR irradiation as well as synthesis of the hydrogel as a thin coating on individual nanoparticles.
Steve Higbee
Research Interests: My research focuses on the engineering of vascularized and biomimetic hepatic tissue in PEG-based hydrogels. I am investigating the use of tubulogenic co-cultures to form microvascular networks in engineered hepatic tissue. Additionally, I have developed a hydrogel photopatterning process that can be used to fabricate tissues that recapitulate the native hepatic microenvironment.
Saniya Ali
Research Interests: My research involves developing biomimetic scaffolds for tissue engineering angiogenesis. The work involves facilitating various vessel growth patterns and directions using patterning techniques employing two-photon absorption laser scanning lithography and incorporating various growth factors and peptides in poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-based hydrogels. These bioactive hydrogels are implanted in the pocket of the mouse cornea to observe and image vessel growth in vivo.
Laila Roudsari
Research Interests: My research will focus on applying tissue engineering strategies to the study of tumor angiogenesis and metastasis. This will involve incorporation of various growth factors and peptides with tumor cells and vascular cells into poly(ethylene) glycol-based hydrogels in order to model tumor angiogenesis in vitro. Further, my research will look at inducing angiogenesis in vivo to study the pathogenesis of metastasis.
Yan Wu
Dan Puperi
Recent Graduates:
Christy Franco, PhD
Research Interests: Biomimetic scaffolds for brain tissue engineering: Through the use of functionalized hydrogels, I am investing the effects of various adhesion peptides, growth factors, and co-culture conditions on the growth and differentiation of neural stem cells. The results of these in vitro studies are then used to design an implantable, tissue engineered complex that could be used to treat stroke damaged regions of the brain and improve recovery. Currently the first generation implants are being tested in a rat model through our collaborators at Kings College London.
Jennifer Saik, PhD
Research Interests: My research focuses on developing bioactive scaffolds for applications in tissue engineering and therapeutic angiogenesis. I am investigating the use of various growth factors and peptides incorporated into PEG-based hydrogels in both a releasable and covalently immobilized form to stimulate angiogenesis. Bioactive hydrogels are then studied in vivo in a mouse cornea micropocket angiogenesis assay.
Maude Rowland, PhD
Research Interests: My work focuses on the development of a culture system to expand hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) for clinical applications. HSCs are used in the treatment of many blood diseases and disorders and have potential for use in other applications. However, HSC availability is limited due to a shortage of donors and unsuccessful in vitro culturing techniques. I am currently developing a novel, ex vivo culture system that recapitulates the HSC microenvironment.