B.S. in Biology, University of Akron, 2004

Research Statement:
Currently, my project is focused on characterizing ex vivo generated cartilage via biochemical analysis, histology/immunohistochemistry, and non-invasive MRI in collaboration with Dr. Rick Spencer at the National Institute on Aging, NIH.  Our goal is to generate neo-cartilage with similar properties to native articular cartilage.  Chondrocytes are isolated from 1-3 week old calves and humans undergoing total knee arthroplasty and suspended in a collagen I scaffold to generate ‘spot cultures,’ which are given various media treatments for optimal growth.  We are also funded to examine the effects of the popular supplements glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate on new cartilage formation using this model system. 

This work is being performed in the lab of my advisor and VP for Research, Dr. Walter Horton, Jr.  In the future we hope to employ this model system to answer more fundamental questions about cartilage and chondrocyte biology, including the role of Bag-1 (Bcl-2 associated athanogene-1) in endoplasmic reticulum stress.  We are in the preliminary stages of subjecting the spot cultures to ER stress-inducing agents at different concentrations and timepoints to compare the changes in gene and protein expression to previous work done on chondrocytes in monolayer culture (Yang et al, J Cell Biochem. 2007 Oct 15;102(3):786-800). 

Abstracts:

Nugent A, Murray T, McBurney D, Weiner S, Spencer RGS, Horton WE.  (2006) Biochemical and MRI Analysis of Engineered Cartilage.  Matrix Biology 25:S1-S94.