Teresa Rapp
University of Oregon, OR·Chemistry
Growing working three-dimensional (3D) organs from stem cells could transform the study of development and enable personalized medicine. Today's lab-grown "mini-organs" are made by letting stem cells develop largely on their own.
- Fields
Chemistry
Biomedical Engineering
Materials Science
- Topics
photoresponsive biomaterials
photocleavable crosslinkers
ruthenium polypyridyl complexes
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Mar 2031
What they work on
- Develop photocleavable crosslinkers based on ruthenium polypyridyl complexes, light-sensitive metal compounds, that work across many different biomaterial supports.
- Probe disease processes in 3D microphysiological systems by using light to change the physical environment around cells, such as matrix density and porosity.
- Direct cell attachment and growth by using light to pattern biochemical cues, such as morphogens, within a material in both space and time.
More about the research
The results vary in size and shape, contain unpredictable mixes of cell types, and lack blood vessels, immune cells and nerves. This program develops light-responsive materials that let researchers control, in space and time, the cues that guide how cells grow into tissue.
Why it matters
Better-controlled lab-grown tissues could give researchers more realistic models of human biology and disease than current mini-organs. Simple, adaptable light-triggered materials could let scientists build tissue models with more consistent structure. These models could eventually help with studies of development and with patient-specific medicine.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Michael Blatchley
Syracuse University, NY·Biomedical Engineering·Early-career
Test how light-triggered softening or stiffening of a PEG hydrogel matrix changes the cell-type makeup and maturation of iPSC-derived intestinal epithelial organoids over time.
Michael Mak
Stony Brook University, NY·Biomedical Engineering
Develop biofabrication methods that tune the architecture of natural, unmodified collagen I across scales, from fiber networks to whole-tissue geometry, to build realistic engineered tissues and mini-organs.
Cole DeForest
University of Washington, WA·Biomedical Engineering
Establish chemical strategies that set a biomaterial's mechanical stiffness and its biochemical cues independently, each with 4D grayscale control, so cells can be exposed to either variable alone.
The school
University of Oregon: 14 labs on PI Pages, $175M a year on research, 219 research doctorates a year.
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