Advisor: Andrés J. García

George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

 Committee:

Johnna S. Temenoff, Ph.D. - Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Edward A. Botchwey, Ph.D. - Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Thomas H. Barker, Ph.D. - Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Thomas J. Burkholder, Ph.D. - School of Applied Physiology, Georgia Institute of Technology

A functional, contractile unit mainly consisting of muscle cells can form the force actuator component of a cellular machine. Locomotion using biological elements remains a challenge, yet the potential impact of biological machines is high: significantly enhancing or transforming our ability to perform certain tasks such as detecting harmful contaminants in food and drugs, harvesting energy or mimicking aspects of organ function. Meanwhile, there is a need for regenerative medicine strategies to enhance or induce de novo formation of functional skeletal muscle as a treatment for congenital absence or traumatic loss of tissue.

 Alignment and differentiation of skeletal progenitor monolayers into myotubes has been achieved on a variety of synthetic scaffolds, while functionality of 3D skeletal muscle constructs has been limited to biological scaffolds. The purpose of this research project is to engineer a 3D microenvironment, using synthetic, polymer-based hydrogels, to promote the development of differentiated muscle tissue from skeletal muscle progenitor cells to form contractile units. We hypothesize that by modulating controllable hydrogel properties we can create critical environmental features and modes of interaction to promote attachment, proliferation and differentiation for the stable formation of multinucleated myotubes and consequently, functional skeletal muscle tissue constructs.