(Press-News.org) The human body is an incredibly designed machine, and mechanical processes such as those in the lymphatic system play major roles in maintaining healthy tissue and organs.
Donny Hanjaya-Putra is an assistant professor whose work lies at the intersection of engineering and medicine. He studies the lymphatic system -- the part of the immune system that rids the body of toxins and other unwanted materials. He looks at how to restore dysfunctional lymphatic networks, which are associated with a wide range of diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, neurological conditions and metabolic syndromes.
Now Hanjaya-Putra and his team -- bioengineering doctoral student Laura Alderfer, along with Elizabeth Russo, a 2019 graduate; Adriana Archilla, a student from Syracuse University; and Brian Coe, class of '19 -- have demonstrated how extracellular matrix stiffness affects lymphatic vessel function.
The team is combining this knowledge with polymer science and mechanical engineering to build new lymphatic cord-like structures, which help restore normal behavior to dysfunctional lymphatic systems and allow the body to fight the disease.
"Cells can sense mechanical stimuli, such as matrix stiffness, and this activates certain genes to promote lymphatic formation," said Hanjaya-Putra. "We used hydrogels made from hyaluronic acid (a natural sugar molecule) to enhance the cell-binding motif with appropriate mechanical stimuli (matrix stiffness) in a 2D model of lymphatic vessels and successfully stimulated new lymphatic vessel formations."
The team has published its findings in END
Putting up a good fight: Regenerating the body's natural defenses by restoring lymphatic networks
2021-04-01
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