Category: Lab News

It is an honor to have been elected as the Secretary of BMES and member of the Board. The Society and its members have provided me with a strong scientific and educational community and wonderful mentorship for my professional growth and leadership skills. I believe the role of a professional society is to provide overall leadership to the field, serve as a unifying voice, and facilitate “grass roots” programs in industry, academia, and local chapters to advance the field. Read more

The U-RISE@Wπ at WPI started in April 2024 and is supported by a $1,636,820 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will provide tuition and stipend funding, research opportunities, and academic and personal support to 15 students from populations underrepresented in biomedical research over five years to prepare the students for advanced studies and careers in research. The program is expected to improve the retention and graduation rates of WPI undergraduates from under-represented or disadvantaged backgrounds.  Read More

In their paper in Cells (open access), Coutts et al. show that in a valvular interstitial cell spheroid model of calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD), antioxidants reduce calcification. Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is especially potent, possibly because it also induces ECM production within the spheoids.

In recognition of Prof. Billiar’s outstanding contributions in research, teaching and service, he was appointed by President Grace Wang and Dean John McNeill the John Milton Higgins Professor, effective January 1, 2023.

Congrats. Prof. B!

Heartfelt congratulations Ph.D. student Rozanne on an excellent talk at SB3C! This past week, she attended the 2023 Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering, and Biotransport Conference (SB³C 2023) in Colorado, participating in lectures, symposia, and workshops. Bravo Rozanne!

Congrats to Juanyong on an excellent talk at SB3C! He and others traveled to the 2023 Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering, and Biotransport Conference (SB³C 2023) in Colorado this past week to participate in various events and lectures.  Congratulations Juanyong!

Researcher, professor, and head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at WPI Kristen Billiar has been given a $429,456 grant from the National Institute of Health. This endowment will support an existing project investigating the behavior of cardiovascular cells on artificial heart valves in response to mechanical stimuli. Building on his previous research involving calcium deposition causing aortic valve failure and mechanical regulation of apoptosis, Billiar hopes to better understand how mechanical forces affect cell movement and growth.

Read the full article here: https://www.wpi.edu/news/wpi-researcher-leads-project-determine-how-stretching-and-blood-flow-impact-engineered-heart-valves

Congrats to Ying on publishing her paper in Biofabridation entitled “Reducing retraction in engineered tissues through design of sequential growth factor treatment.” She and colleagues designed TGF-β1 and FGF-2 based growth factor treatments and successfully reduced tissue retraction by 85% and increased the ECM elastic modulus by 260% compared to non-growth factor treated controls without significantly increasing the contractile force. She also mathematically modeled the behavior!  https://doi.org/10.1088/1758-5090/accd24 

Our new paper, “Multicellular Aligned Bands Disrupt Global Collective Cell Behavior“ is here. Please let us know what you think! To read please click on the hyperlink of the paper’s name.

Our new paper “Hyaluronic Acid Regulates Heart Valve Interstitial Cell Contraction in Fibrin-based Scaffolds” is now available to download for free until December 12th.

To download please click here.