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

研究启动奖为历史上黑人学院和大学的教师提供支持，他们正在建立一个研究项目。预计该奖项将有助于进一步提高教师的研究能力和效率，改善其所在机构的研究和教学，并使本科生和高中生参与研究经验。授予汉普顿大学的奖项在许多领域具有潜在的更广泛的社会影响。该项目侧重于骨组织工程领域的跨学科研究，以促进基于种族特异性制度的复杂骨病治疗的优化。 这些研究将建立在汉普顿大学和布兰代斯大学材料研究科学与工程中心之间的现有关系基础上，通过最近成立的材料研究和教育合作项目，该研究项目将应用生物材料、细胞培养、3D打印和微流体等基础科学和工程技术来制造种族特定的微环境骨模型。该项目的目标是：1）确定最具信息性的3D打印和微流体技术，该技术结合了工程生物材料来模拟骨稳态; 2）使用工程骨微流体系统识别关键细胞/骨基质相互作用，因为它涉及各种患者人口统计学中骨稳态的差异;和3）利用工程化骨微流体系统基于人口统计学群体之间的骨基质差异预测骨稳态的紊乱。这项工作旨在在几个层面上进行变革：人类组织整合的方法，以创建种族特异性体外系统，用于生物医学应用的溶剂3D打印微流体设备的进步，以及旨在研究细胞和细胞外基质之间关系的多学科方法在受控环境中。预期结果将包括在高通量系统中确定关于骨稳态的关键种族特异性细节的独特能力。

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.