Skip to main content

Tissue Model of The Epithelial Mesenchymal Trophic Unit

A 3D scaffold that can mimic properties and functions of in-vivo ECM and will be compatible with the lung epithelial cells used for experimentation.

Project Overview

A multitude of chronic lung diseases such as pulmonary fibrosis, asthma, and COPD can cause damage to epithelial tissues of the lungs. This presents a problem because when this tissue is damaged, a fibrotic response is triggered in sub-epithelial fibroblasts that results in further disease and fibrosis. There are currently no tissue models that accurately recreate the lung extracellular matrix and its changes due to cell injury. Such a model would need to have tunable mechanical stiffness and porosity, as well as be cell adhesive and degradable. Dr. Brasier of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health requires a scaffold that meets these criteria while having a uniform and replicable composition that allows for epithelial cell culture at an air-liquid-interface (ALI) so that his lab can study the effects of fibrosis on small-airway lung epithelial cells.

Team Picture

Nick Herbst, Will Onuscheck, Carley Schwartz, Elijah Diederich, Anuraag Shreekanth Belavadi
Nick Herbst, Will Onuscheck, Carley Schwartz, Elijah Diederich, Anuraag Shreekanth Belavadi

Files

Contact Information

Team Members

  • Carley Schwartz - Team Leader
  • Anuraag Shreekanth Belavadi - Communicator
  • William Onuscheck - BSAC
  • Nick Herbst - BWIG
  • Elijah Diederich - BPAG
  • Kenyana Tyiska

Advisor and Client

  • Dr. Kristyn Masters - Advisor
  • Dr. Allan Brasier - Client

Related Projects

Back to Top