Introduction Sepsis is a serious condition where unregulated systemic inflammation can cause organ failure and death. Recent evidence has also shown that sepsis can cause cognitive impairment in surviving patients. However, the mechanisms that cause sepsis-related damage to the brain are challenging to study with the current in vitro tools. In this project, our goal…
Introduction: Transforming Growth Factor -β1 (TGF-β1) is a key player in the induction and progression of fibrosis in many tissues. This factor has also been established as a regulator in the development of fibrotic diseases for its involvement of different signaling pathways and cross-talks between many signaling cascades. We are in collaboration with Dr. Hani…
Introduction Human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived blood-brain barrier (BBB) models have proven to be useful to study disease pathomechanisms and drug delivery into the central nervous system. Currently available hiPSC-derived BBB models are well characterized with respect to diffusion barrier properties and specific transporters, however not optimal for studying BBB-immune cells interactions because of…
Introduction Breakdown of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is one of the earliest signs of sepsis and is linked with long-term cognitive impairment. As animal models poorly recapitulate human sepsis, alternative approaches are direly needed to understand sepsis-associated brain injury and develop strategies that protect against cognitive decline. To fill this gap, we are developing a…
Introduction Breakdown of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is one of the earliest signs of sepsis and is linked with long-term cognitive impairment. As animal models poorly recapitulate human sepsis, alternative approaches are direly needed to understand sepsis-associated brain injury and develop strategies that protect against cognitive decline. To fill this gap, we are developing a…
Introduction In our labs previously work, difficulties in growing endothelial cells (ECs) under shear flow lead to the exploration of novel membrane technologies that permit firm EC attachment, without compromising membrane permeability or leukocyte transmigration studies. We ultimately landed on the development of effectively ‘dual-scale’ membranes that contained 3 μm pores dispersed amongst an NPN…
Over the last few months, I have been trying to reestablish my SERS measurements, and generate a paper based on SERS sensing with our nanomembranes. Previously, I have created magnesium fluoride coated substrates that seem to have better SERS performance than just NPN alone. Combining our TEM imaging with SERS data would be a powerful…
So this is the latest iteration of the thumb-pump device we were working on this summer. As you will see in the diagrams, the idea is to ultimately have saliva go through a filtration step, with a side channel leading to a paper sink for excess/refuse pre-filtrate and a through channel. The latter channel leads…
Hi all – I finished my 10 months internship with Sartorius on 16th of July and since all my results are going to be the third and last aim of my Ph. D., I will be presenting my results in our NRG meeting. Since these results are confidential, I am not allowed to publish them…
Background Previously we characterized HUVEC monolayer barrier via TEER in traditional transwell systems following polarized TNF-alpha exposure (Figure 1). One major shortcoming of this experimental set up for our study is it does not accurately reflect the permeability of HUVECs within our uSiM system (where all other experiments were performed). Thus, a couple reviewers wanted…