Research Initiation Award: Engineered demographic-specific in vitro microfluidic bone microenvironment models

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Research Initiation Awards provide support for faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities who are building a research program. It is expected that the award helps to further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness, improves research and teaching at his home institution, and involves undergraduate and high school students in research experiences. The award to Hampton University has potential broader and societal impact in a number of areas. The project focuses on transdisciplinary research in the area of bone tissue engineering to facilitate the optimization of treatment of complex bone diseases based on race-specific regimes. These studies will build upon the current relationship between Hampton University and the Brandeis University Materials Research Science and Engineering Center through the recently established Partnership for Research and Education in Materials project.This research project will apply the basic science and engineering techniques of biomaterials, cell culture, 3D printing, and microfluidics to fabricate race-specific microenvironment bone models. The objectives of this project are to: 1) determine the most informative 3D printing and microfluidic techniques that incorporate an engineered biomaterial to model bone homeostasis; 2) identify key cell/bone matrix interactions using an engineered bone microfluidic system as it relates to differences in bone homeostasis among various patient demographics; and 3) predict disturbances in bone homeostasis based on bone matrix differences between demographic groups with an engineered bone microfluidic system. The work is designed to be transformative on several levels: the methodology of human tissue integration to create race-specific in vitro systems, the advancement of solvent 3D printed microfluidic devices for biomedical applications, and the multidisciplinary approach designed to study the relationship between cells and extracellular matrices in a controlled environment. Expected outcomes would include the unique ability to ascertain key race-specific details about bone homeostasis in high throughput systems.