{"511171":{"#nid":"511171","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Understanding Morphogenesis with Biomaterials","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EEpithelium is the layer of tissue that covers most of the of internal and external surfaces of your body and organs, a wide-ranging inventory that includes the skin, lungs, gut, urinary and reproductive tracts. The process by which epithelia transforms into these things, epithelial morphogenesis, is critical in the construction and ongoing maintenance of your body, which includes tissue repair.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EPlaying an essential role in this transformation is the extracellular matrix (ECM), providing physical scaffolding for cells, but also initiating biophysical and biochemical cues required for morphogenesis \u2013 contributions that are poorly understood.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cWe know morphogenesis is heavily influenced by the surrounding cell matrix, the ECM around the cells,\u201d says Andr\u00e9s\u0026nbsp;J.\u0026nbsp;Garc\u00eda, faculty member of the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience. \u201cBut the ECM is very complex and difficult to study in its normal state.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003ESo Garc\u00eda, Rae S. and Frank H. Neely Endowed Chair and Regent\u2019s Professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, and his colleagues set out to develop a better understanding by making their own matrices, and published their research recently in \u003Cem\u003EThe Journal of Cell Biology\u003C\/em\u003E, a paper entitled, \u201cSynthetic matrices reveal contributions of ECM biophysical and biochemical properties to epithelial morphogenesis.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EThe team engineered synthetic ECM-mimetic hydrogels to better study the impact of ECM properties on epithelial morphogenesis. Using synthetic matrices, the researchers could control mechanical properties and biochemical signals, making comparisons to a normal matrix.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cTo me, the most remarkable thing was that we were able to find formulations that gave rise to normal structures, like you see in a normal matrix,\u201d Garc\u00eda says. \u201cIf we change the properties we could get conditions that did not allow the cells to grow. They basically stay a single cell and die. And then we had other conditions that gave rise to abnormal structures that looked like pathological conditions \u2013 all of this within the same material.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EIn addition to elucidating the contributions of ECM biophysical and biochemical properties to morphogenesis, the research also provides a platform, Garc\u00eda says, \u201cthat can be used to study the process. As a research tool it has a lot of value. If we want to engineer the matrices to direct cells during repair, this provides a good platform, because we\u2019re not relying on matrix derived from the tumor of an animal. We can make it synthetically.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EBasically, it\u2019s technology that can be used to answer fundamental questions of biology while also having a real impact in biomedical technologies, which ultimately leads to better treatments for patients.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p3\u0022\u003EGarc\u00eda\u2019s co-authors were fellow Petit Institute researcher Todd Sulchek, associate professor in the Woodruff School, as well as Ph.D. students, Ricardo Cruz\u2011Acu\u00f1a, Tom Bongiorno, Christopher T. Johnson and Jos\u00e9 R. Garc\u00eda, and the paper\u2019s lead author, former Georgia Tech Ph.D. student Nduka O. Enemchukwu, now a postdoc at the Baylor School of Medicine.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p2\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Garc\u00eda lab develops platform that could lead to better regenerative medicine delivery"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EGarc\u00eda lab develops platform that could lead to better regenerative medicine delivery\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Garc\u00eda lab develops platform that could lead to better regenerative medicine delivery"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2016-03-09 12:46:35","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:21:01","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-03-09T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2016-03-09T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"511151":{"id":"511151","type":"image","title":"Epithelium","body":null,"created":"1458923712","gmt_created":"2016-03-25 16:35:12","changed":"1475895273","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:54:33","alt":"Epithelium","file":{"fid":"204973","name":"bigstock-epithelium-100741358_0.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/bigstock-epithelium-100741358_0_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/bigstock-epithelium-100741358_0_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":479441,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/bigstock-epithelium-100741358_0_0.jpg?itok=YXayvK6e"}},"511161":{"id":"511161","type":"image","title":"Andr\u00e9s\u00a0J.\u00a0Garc\u00eda","body":null,"created":"1458923712","gmt_created":"2016-03-25 16:35:12","changed":"1475895273","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:54:33","alt":"Andr\u00e9s\u00a0J.\u00a0Garc\u00eda","file":{"fid":"204974","name":"garcia.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/garcia_1.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/garcia_1.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":695368,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/garcia_1.jpg?itok=LkjoP-OE"}}},"media_ids":["511151","511161"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"3024","name":"biomaterials"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/node\/jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cbr class=\u0022Apple-interchange-newline\u0022 \/\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003EBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}